


Timeless Rose

by FireflySummerwynd



Category: Poison (US Band)
Genre: F/M, Glam Metal, Teenagers, Time Travel, hair metal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:27:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 34,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28455318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireflySummerwynd/pseuds/FireflySummerwynd
Summary: Ever the Dreamer for as long as anyone could remember, Kailani Sakiyama all but lived in a Fantasy more often than she didn't. But the thing about her was that she wasn't delusional enough to think these Fantasies were real–she could tell the difference between them and Reality.It was for that reason she didn't think she'd ever get to meet one of her favorite bands, but rather contented herself with simply Dreaming of getting to. She certainly never thought she'd not only get to actually meet said favorite band, butbeforethey were actually the band she knew them as in what she consideredherReality.Waking up to find herself in bed with one of those band members–and when he was a teenager suffering from mild acne, at that–was the last thing she'd have expected. But finding out that whoever she'd apparently become literally overnight'd been in a solid relationship with him for upwards of two Years as even more surprising. Still, Kai was able to get her head in the game, so to speak, and just play along since she'd absolutely no clue when or if she'd ever Return home.
Relationships: Bobby Dall/Kai Sakiyama





	1. Prologue

_March, 2019_

_Swannanoa, North Carolina_

Looking up at the records hanging on her bedroom wall with a smirk, a young woman by the name of Kailani Sakiyama blew a kissta one of the records in particular. Seemingly staring back down at her were four faces that she knew she’d prolly never meet, no matter what Time period they were in. However, she was known to be a Dreamer who lived with her head in the Clouds more often than not, so she supposed that meeting these men in her Dreams’d suffice.

As she settled into her bed with a sigh shortly thereafter, Kai couldn’t help the Thoughts that practically raced through her head. What would her Life’ve been like, if her father hadn’t supposedly abandoned her, according to pretty much everyone around her? For that matter, what would Life be like, if she could actually go back in Time and Change any given number of events?

It was for that reason that sleep was long in coming for her that Night, easily not making its presence known till after Midnight. When she finally settled into the blackened Depths with a soft sigh, she found herself Dreaming about one of the faces on the cover of that record from her wall. More specifically, she found herself Dreaming about what it’d be like, if she could go back in Time and snag the owner of that face for herself. She didn’t rightly care whether he was the age that he was in that decades-old picture, younger than that, or even older. Admittedly, she’d a thing for older guys, so she’d take even the current gray-haired, wrinkly version of him, if she’d half a fighting chance with him.

Trapped within a Dream World somewhat of her own making, the young woman didn’t realize what she wasta wake up to. She’d absolutely no idea that she was gonna be somewhat younger than her current age–which happened to be twenty-five. Another thing she wasn’t gonna be aware of was that she was gonna be far from home when she woke–in more ways than one. But the biggest Change that she wasn’t gonna be aware of till she woke was that she wasn’t gonna be alone anymore.

Only once she was in a deep enough sleep that she wouldn’t wake did the Changes Kai was gonna wake up to start. Gentle sparkles surrounded her prone, sleeping form, Transforming her appearance back to what it’d been when she was fifteen. The Chocolate hair that fell a few inches below her shoulders lengthened till it reached halfway down her back–or woulda, if she were upright. Its Color also reverted the deep Onyx that she’d dyed it back then, making her lightly-tanned flesh stand out even more than it already did. The last thing to happen was that her weight decreased back to the hundred and forty or so pounds she’d been when she started high school at thirteen. Gone was the sagging skin caused by weight loss in recent Years, replaced by the slight pudginess she’d sported at fifteen.

After her appearance’d reverted, her entire body was encased in a glow that couldn’t be readily identified, nor explained. Seconds later, said body disappeared from the bed it was in, never to be seen by those she knew and even remotely cared about again. It reappeared seemingly seconds later, but in a completely different bed–which was already occupied by a different body. That body–which was young, but decidedly masculine–hummed softly as Kai settled in next to it without waking in the slightest.

Things were about to get interesting when these bodies awoke the next Morn, and she couldn’t have Begun to predict how so when she’d first gone to bed.


	2. One

_Briiiinnnng!_

Startled almost clean outta her skin, Kai couldn’t bite back a gasp as she instinctively flailed and fought her way out from under the covers. Hearing a displeased groan from behind her was what made her roll over, only to get the shock of a Lifetime, to say the least. There wasn’t any possible way she was actually in bed next to Poison’s bassist–although he looked far younger than any picture she’d ever seen of him before.

“Good Morn, sweetheart,” said young man yawned, reaching over to Silence the ungodly racket that’d apparently woken him up, too.

The young woman started to snap at him that she wasn’t a sweetheart when seemingly outta nowhere, memories that she was certain weren’t hers Began to flood her brain. “Morn, hon.”

“Happy anniversary,” Bobby–or rather, Rob, as she now realized he preferred–chuckled as he pushed himself up onto one elbow.

“I can’t believe it’s been three Years already,” she found herself saying, almost as if she’d no Control over herself.

“Better believe it,” the young man laughed as he leaned down for a quick kiss. “Course, I gotta admit that even _I’m_ surprised we’ve made it this long.”

“Without breaking up, or without killing each other?” Kai queried with a laugh of her own.

“Both,” he admitted, tossing the covers off himself. “I mean, how many couples do ya hear of meeting at twelve and still being together three Years later?”

“I certainly haven’t ever heard of any who fit into that category,” the young woman said, yet more memories she was sure weren’t hers flooding her brain.

“I’d say that makes us a rarity, for sure,” Rob chuckled. “But rarity or no, we’re still normal in that we’ve to get up so we can get to school on Time.”

“Yeah, I’d rather Mama Lynda _not_ bitch us out again, ya randy devil,” she laughed.

Somehow finding her way to the nearby bathroom that she instinctively knew she shared with his older sister, Patty, the young woman started to piece together what was going on. She wasn’t quite sure how, but she’d gone to bed in March of 2019 as a twenty-five-Year-old single, unemployed woman, but woken up under completely different circumstances. Most notably, she was apparently a fifteen-Year-old high school student again–as if her first round of fighting her way through that wasn’t enough. The next biggest Change was that she wasn’t single–she was actually in a relationship with the guy she knew as Bobby Dall.

Kai couldn’t exactly suppress a squeal at that Thought, which made said boyfriend laugh in their bedroom down the hall. No doubt he thought her squeal was at what was apparently their third anniversary as a couple, and she was content to let him continue thinking that. After all, she’d no idea when or if she’d Return to her own Time, so she felt it better to just play along for the moment.

By the Time they were both dressed, had grabbed a minuscule breakfast–much to the displeasure of the woman she somehow recognized as Mama Lynda–and were out the door, the young woman’d been bombarded by yet more memories. Walking down the street hand-in-hand with the guy who was apparently her boyfriend, she realized that while it was still March, it wasn’t 2019. In fact, that particular Year was literally decades in coming, ’cuz it was only 1979 at the present moment.

Glancing over as they walked to Mechanicsburg Area Senior High School, the young woman drank in the appearance of her–for the moment–boyfriend. Rob looked so much younger than any picture she’d ever seen of him before, which made sense, if he was only fifteen. After all, the youngest he’d ever been in any pictures she’d seen of him was somewhere between twenty and twenty-three. He still looked as good as in those pictures, albeit with a mild case of acne, as was typical of most teenagers. And thankfully for her Sanity, he still had the mess of long hair she loved about him, although it wasn’t all teased up like she knew it’d eventually be. If she were completely honest, it looked much like she knew it would when he was around the age of thirty, but she chose not to say so.

Apparently getting the feeling he was being watched, the young man at her side looked down and chuckled when he caught her staring. He hadn’t yet reached what she knew would be a full height of six-foot-even–he was most likely only five-nine, at best. But since she’d apparently stopped growing at the age of twelve again, Kai topped out at a meager five-three like she always had. That put a decent amount of Space between their heights even now, and she knew that gap’d only increase as her boyfriend continued growing for the next few Years.

“Like whatcha see or something?” Rob chuckled, not bothering to bite back a grin.

“Hey, I can’t help thatcha look absolutely delicious,” she retorted with a grin of her own.

“Watch it, woman, or we’ll be hiding in the school’s garden shed again for a while,” the young man warned her with a laugh.

Another memory bombarded her, and she couldn’t help shivering as she purred. “Ya didn’t hear me arguing or complaining then, didja?”

“Nah, I’m pretty sure I heard something more like, _Give it to me, ya big-dicked bastard!”_ he laughed. “Well, maybe not word-for-word, butcha know what I mean.”

“I call it like I see it,” Kai snickered, gently squeezing his hand. “So, what’s the plan for after school?”

_“After?_ Girl, ya know I tend to ditch more than I don’t,” the young man admonished her, his grin never fading.

“You’re never gonna get anywhere in Life, if ya keep doing that,” she told him. “Or whatcha think’ll getcha to the stratosphere and beyond’ll fall through when ya least expect it, and you’ll need a backup plan for after that.”

Rob didn’t realize just how right she was, considering he didn’t realize what was _really_ going on. “Maybe, maybe not, butcha know me–I like living dangerously.”

“Then I guess ya just won’t get laid for our anniversary tonight,” the young woman said, smirking smugly as she let go of his hand and took off ahead of him.

Protesting hotly as he chased after her, he said that cutting him off on such a momentous Night wasn’t fair in the slightest. They were just teenagers who were miraculously celebrating an anniversary few folks their age managed to even make it to. Everybody knew that the Future wasn’t set in Stone, and it wasn’t like they’d to figure out _exactly_ what they were gonna do with themselves by tomorrow.

But being from the Future and knowing where _his_ Future was gonna go, if he made certain choices now, Kai wasn’t having it. Sure, she knew he was Destined to be in one of the biggest bandsta come outta the eighties, but she also knew far more than that. She knew that only five or so Years after the release of their debut album, that band was gonna all but crash and burn for nearly a decade. They might put out another album in that interim, the second they Intended to release getting shelved till 2000, but that didn’t exactly mean shit.

The young woman wanted Rob to have a way to not only take care of himself, but his loved ones he acquired when the worst happened. Only finishing high school instead of dropping out as a sophomore like she knew he was gonna do, if she hadn’t apparently Time Traveled, and preferably getting at least a Bachelor’s degree in college was gonna Change that. Were those two thingsta happen, he might get to open up the restaurant he’d been rumored to own in her Time far sooner.

Finally catching up with his girlfriend, the young man snagged her shoulder and spun her around to face him. Heaving a sigh since he obviously didn’t wanna, he swore he’d actually give more Thought to what he was gonna do with his Life. That included finishing high school at the very least, given that he wasn’t entirely sure college was for him. But hearing those words drew out the gorgeous smile he loved to see, ’cuz apparently just finishing high school was good enough for his girlfriend. In fact, that smile was accompanied by a kiss that all but knocked his socks right off his feet, which he relished as much as getting to wake up next to this girl every Day.

“We need to get to class, or finishing high school’s never gonna happen for either of us,” he chuckled as he finally pulled back.

“Yeah, ’cuz sex can come later tonight,” Kai agreed, unable to resist using their position to give him a teasing squeeze.

“God, you’re gonna kill me,” the young man groaned, gently pushing against her cupped hand.

“Nah, I doubt that’s gonna happen,” she snickered as she let go.

“Just don’t forget that I’ve band practice this Eve,” Rob reminded her. “So, I’m not coming straight home once school’s dismissed.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, _Mr. I-Wanna-be-a-Rock-Star,”_ the young woman laughed.

“It’s that, or law school, damn it,” he retorted with a laugh of his own.

“You–a lawyer? Surely, ya jest!” Kai cackled. “You’d have to shave your head just to look presentable in a court room!”

“Then rock star extraordinaire, it is,” the young man chuckled, leaning down for another kiss.

“Get to class, ya dork, before ya wind up in trouble for being tardy again,” she told him, sending him off with a pat to the rump.

Rob let out another laugh and mock saluted her as they headed their separate ways so they could get to class on Time. He’d absolutely no way of knowing what was gonna happen, whether he finished high school or not, and she wasn’t about to tell him–yet. One thing was for sure, though–he was every bit as hot and charismatic as a fifteen-Year-old still _wet behind the ears_ as he was as a grown, married father.

Kai couldn’t help heaving a sigh as she settled into her desk once she got to her first class of the Day, barely able to believe her own senses. Her Luck was better now–even though she’d Returned to high school and the misery those few short Years brought with them–than it’d ever been before. Whether she ever Enlightened her boyfriend to the shit she already knew about him or not wasn’t of any real concern. In fact, she thought it might just be better to keep her mouth shut and let him find out certain things on his own.

She dragged her attention to the snore-fest that was her history teacher’s lesson once class actually started, finding herself struggling to pay attention. Almost all of this was already well-programmed in her brain, not to mention facts that wouldn’t be known for decades. Other parts were actually interesting, ’cuz they were things she hadn’t known before, and caught her attention hook, line, and sinker.


	3. Two

_June, 1980_

_Mechanicsburg, Penn_

A lil over a Year’d passed since Kai’d gone to bed in her own Time and woken up in a completely different one outta nowhere. Since she’d failed to Return to 2019 during this Time, she felt that such a thing wasn’t ever gonna happen–and that there was a good reason for it. No doubt that reason started with being a bit of a slave-driver for the young man she’d recently celebrated her fourth anniversary as a couple with.

During the past fifteen months, she’d been sifting through memories that were both hers _and_ not while cracking a figurative whip. She’d come to realize that she was a young orphan who’d run away from her last foster home to escape physical abuse that’d nearly killed her. Rob’d been the one to find her behind his family’s garden shed, and once he’d brought his mom out to investigate, things’d drastically Changed. They’d to report having found her, of course, of once Lynda Stiles’d found out why she was all alone in her back yard–well, she’d put her foot down in a couple different ways. Not about to let her Return to such abuse, she’d been quick to say that she and her husband would foster her now.

Being fostered by the couple technically made her Rob’s foster sister, but neither of them’d cared about that kinda thing. He was a boy who knew what he wanted and went after it, even before his voice’d dropped in pitch. Only a month or so after finding her, he’d asked her out on a date, which his parents’d found cute since they’d thought nothing’d actually come of it.

In the Time that’d passed since, far more’d come of that lone date than anyone ever coulda guessed to start with. Not only were the young pair still together four Years later, but they acted more like grown, married adults when it came to their relationship. Sure, they fought like Cats and Dogs from Time to Time, but they also supported each other like no one else could. And it was due to that support and extra push from her that the young man and his girlfriend were both able to buckle down and graduate high school a full Year early.

“I’m _soooo_ proud of ya, baby boy!” Lynda gushed, grabbing her tall, gangly son for a Bear-hug that knocked the Wind outta him, it was so tight.

“Jeez, Mama,” he chuckled, managing to pry her off. “Ya act like I enlisted and I’m off to War or something.”

“Or just Returned home alive from one,” his older brother, Butch, laughed.

“Yeah, that, too,” Rob agreed.

“We’re just amazed thatcha actually graduated,” his sister told him. “I mean, a couple Years ago, ya were making noises about wanting to drop out so ya could focus on forming a band.”

“I only graduated ’cuz of this lil slave-driver right here,” the young man said, grinning as he wrapped his arm around his girlfriend’s shoulders.

“Oh, I’m not the only slave-driver here!” Kai laughed, even as she wrapped her arm around his waist in Return.

“That’s definitely true,” he agreed. “I’d to slave-drive your ass outta bed every Morn, but once ya were up and at ’em, that was it.”

“’Cuz you’d a bad habit of keeping me up late at Night!” the young woman retorted good-Naturedly.

“Ugh, tell me about it,” Butch chuckled. “I swear, I heard more than I ever wanted to till I finally saved up enough to move out.”

Rob blushed hotly as even his parents cracked up, but he didn’t try to deny the allegation since it was true. “Shut up before I make ya watch, too.”

“All right, boys–enough,” their mother chuckled once she’d Calmed down a bit. “’Cuz now I’m curious about what Bobby’s gonna do with himself, now that he’s a high school graduate.”

Shrugging as they turned to head back to the family car, he admitted that he hadn’t exactly thought that far ahead. He was still torn over whether to head off to college or not, and when he’d actually do it, if he did at all. After all, the few scholarships he’d managed to earn himself wouldn’t go very far, if he didn’t make a wise decision. The last thing he wanted wasta get right in the middle of studying for a degree, then have the money run out and his family be unable to help him out with the rest.

Lynda agreed that he was only smart to think like that, ’cuz while she’d worked as a nurse since he was in the single-digits, helping him out’d prove to be pretty hard. Patty’d headed off to nursing school in her own right after graduating high school, so she and their stepfather were already helping _her_. It was pretty much guaranteed that they wouldn’t be able to help him, too, without going bankrupt.

The young man sighed as he said that he supposed he’d get back to work on putting that band together while he was trying to make his final decision. At least that–should it actually work out–combined with continuing to work his job as a line cook’d help make up any differences left by his scholarships. Course, that was assuming that any band he managed to put together didn’t take off so fast and hard that his career wound up being in the Music industry. He’d just have to wait and see what happened, ’cuz as Kai liked to say, his Crystal ball just wasn’t wanting to work today.

A week after his high school graduation, Rob grumbled under his breath as he lugged his gear back home on foot. He’d finally called it quits with the band he’d been in for nearly two Years, ’cuz none of the other members’d the same work ethic as him. They were all lazy sum-bitches that lived off Mommy and Daddy’s money, so they didn’t have the same drive as him for getting their band off the ground. Not only that, but they didn’t share nearly the same Vision about where to take the band once they _did_ get it off the ground.

He was of the mind to sacrifice pretty much everything except Life, limb, and manhood, if that was what it took to actually take the band to new, higher places. Running around with chicken legs and long hair wasn’t exactly something he was unfamiliar with, so he was willing to do that and more. But none of the others were willing to do those things, so he’d finally given up trying to convince them.

Walking in the door with a growl, the only reason he didn’t throw his gear across the room was ’cuz he couldn’t afford to replace it. Guitars, basses, strings, picks, amps, and cables could add up to an arm and a leg before it was all said and done, and he knew it. Luckily for him, Kai was at the ready to get his mind off the trouble at hand, which started with pulling him down for a kiss. He couldn’t help a groan as he swept her into his arms and dragged her off to their room for some _personal recreation_.

“Bobby!”

Jerking his head up from where he’d been thoroughly eating his girlfriend out, Rob growled and pushed himself up to go open his door. “What, Mama? I’m kinda busy right now!”

“Phone call!” Lynda answered from the kitchen.

“Then get a number I can call back!” he said. “Like I said, I’m kinda busy!”

“I’d get _unbusy,_ if I were you,” the middle-aged woman laughed. “’Cuz I’m willing to bet my right foot that you’ll like _this_ phone call.”

“Ugh, I swear to God!” Rob groaned, slamming his door shut and heading over to plug in the phone that lived on his nightstand.

“Better be a damn good phone call,” the young woman grumbled from where she’d rolled onto her side. “’Cuz I was _right there,_ hon.”

“I know, I know,” he sighed, holding up a finger to Silence her as he grabbed the receiver. “Rob speaking.”

_“Rob_ – _I thought your name was Bobby?”_ a male voice responded.

“Pretty much no one but my mom gets away with calling me that without getting at least a dirty look,” the young man laughed.

_“Duly noted,”_ his caller chuckled. _“Listen, my name’s Rikki. Got your digits from a friend of mine, ’cuz apparently he’s one of your friends, too.”_

“Musta been Jack, the damn devil,” Rob sighed.

_“Yeah, that’s him,”_ the other young man confirmed. _“He gave me your digits, swearing you’d just left your band.”_

“Not even a couple hours ago, but yeah,” he agreed.

_“Well, another friend of mine and I’ve been trying to put together a band of our own,”_ Rikki told him, finally getting down to business, as far as he was concerned.

“Ya don’t say, now?” the young man queried, his interest suddenly piqued.

_“I do say,”_ he laughed. _“Problem is, no one seemsta have the same Vision as us.”_

Rob listened as the caller said that he and his friend were both of the mindset to take whatever band they formed to some pretty high places. Maybe they wouldn’t become the next Aerosmith or anything like that, but they wanted to go a lot higher than just local bar-hopping gigs. They were both of the mind that in order to get there, they’d to make some big sacrifices–with the exception of Life, limb, and manhood, of course.

Hearing that _really_ caught his attention, and he was quick to say that he was of an identical mindset as this pair. In fact, he made it clear that that was why he’d just quit the band he’d been in with Jack till that very afternoon. Even Jack didn’t quite share the same mindset as him, more so preferring to make it just far enough to pay off the Beginnings of college so he could become a doctor.

Rikki laughed and said that that sounded exactly like the kinda guy they were looking for as their bassist, maybe even a second guitarist. He suggested meeting up at the local Dairy Queen so they could hang out and get to know each other better, which included his other friend. Cutting a glance over at his girlfriend, the young man told him to give him a couple hoursta take care of a couple things, and he’d be more than glad to. He wasn’t gonna leave Kai hanging indefinitely, and besides, he needed to grab a shower before he even though of meeting up with anyone. Besides, it was very likely that she’d wanna come, too, if only so they could turn a potentially failed meeting into a date to cheer him up.

Agreeing to that, the other young man said he’d give his friend and band mate a call once he got off the phone with him and let the guy know. He told him to just look for a pair of blondes once he got to the Dairy Queen, and he’d know that he’d them in his sights. From there, he bid him _adieu,_ already having an idea of why he’d requested a couple hoursta _take care of some things_. That allowed Rob to set the receiver back in the cradle, then turn his attention back to what he’d been doing before his mother’d yelled for him.

* * *

Just as he’d said while he was still on the phone, a couple hours after wrapping up that call, Rob walked into the local Dairy Queen. He’d an arm wrapped around his girlfriend’s shoulders, which kept her pulled snugly against his side as they walked from their home. Part of him was nervous about how this meeting’d go, but he knew that no matter which way it went, she’d always be there for him.

Spotting a pair of blonde heads off to the side, he supposed he’d just found his potential new band mates. Both their backs were turned toward the door since they sat on the same side of the booth they’d appropriated, and they appeared to be talking quietly. Taking note that one seemed a bit taller than the other, he took a deep breath and turned to head over to the booth in question. Kai didn’t try to stop him or otherwise hold him back, but rather followed along beside him, her own arm wrapped around his waist as it oft was when she was beside him.

“Rikki?” the young man queried, stopping at the End of the booth’s table.

“Hey, there–ya must be Bobby!” the taller of the blondes chuckled. “Or do I need to call ya Rob to avoid getting my head knocked off since I’m rather fond of it?”

“Like I said on the phone, my mom’s pretty much the only one to get away with calling me Bobby,” Rob chuckled, letting his girlfriend slide in before him.

“Who ya got with ya?” the shorter blonde queried, the look in his blue eyes not one he liked.

“Paws off,” Kai chuckled as she leaned against him. “Only my boyfriend getsta play with _this_ kitty.”

“Bret, behave yourself before ya scare this guy off,” Rikki admonished him. “Not everybody’s into ya–or just blondes, in general.”

“I can safely say she’s definitely not into blondes,” he chuckled. “And can prolly kick your asses before ya can even blink.”

“Gotta be a tough cookie to put up with guys, huh?” the taller blonde laughed.

“Ya don’t even know the half of it with this one,” she told him. “Been with him for four Years, and I can’t help wondering how I’m still sane enough to remember my name’s Kai sometimes.”

Rob mocked offense at her words, but was quick to burst into good-Natured laughter since he knew those words were true. Between himself especially and his older brother, it really _was_ a Wonder she was still relatively sane most of the Time. Then again, having his sister around prolly helped with that, ’cuz at least she’d her to go to when the testosterone got overwhelming.

Bret, as the shorter of the blonde’d been more or less introduced, turned his attention to the male brunette sitting across from him. He already liked the Energy he was picking up from him, which screamed that he’d be a good fit for the band they were Intent on putting together. Still, he wanted to know more about this young man, starting with how old he was and whether they’d have to work about him being a high school student or not. After all, he and the other blonde’d dropped out a couple Years ago, so other than the menial jobs they held down, they didn’t really have any constraints.

Surprised to hear Rob say that he and his girlfriend had just graduated the week previous, they found themselves even more curious. Needlessta say, they were surprised when they admitted that they’d be turning eighteen in October and November of that Year, respectively. After all, Rikki was about to turn nineteen next month, and his friend had just turned eighteen back in March. They were obviously pretty close in age, but he’d seemed older than they were at first, if only ’cuz he appeared to be far more mature. Obviously, that was more of an illusion than it wasn’t, but no doubt having been in a steady relationship for four Years added to it.

Chuckling as a slight blush crept up his cheeks, the young man admitted that he oft got told he seemed older than he really was. While he was pretty baby-faced and looked younger, he was an old, hard-working Soul deep at his core. Between that and Kai pushing him, he’d no doubt that he wouldn’t have graduated at all, let alone when he did, if he wasn’t like that. Still, that hard-working ethic of his’d no doubt take him to great places in Life, even if joining their band didn’t work out for him.

The quartet chilled there at the Dairy Queen for about three hours before the brunette pair said they’d to get home before Rob’s mother called the cops on them. During that Time, they got a better feel for the blondes’ personalities, and it was decided that the guys oughta get together and jam sometime in the near Future. It was during such a jam session that they’d really get to know each other, ’cuz their individual Music tastes were gonna play into how well this band worked out. Since Rikki and Bret’d his number, he told them to just give him another call, and they’d worry about figuring out where to meet up again then. From there, he and his girlfriend bid their goodbyes before they headed out, eager to get back home before Dark fell and they worried Mama Lynda for naught.


	4. Three

It was another week before all three teenagers’d a Day off work that allowed them to meet up again, but that was all well and good. Since her boyfriend knew damn good and well she was a Pagan who really didn’t go any further than some mild spell work and the occasional Divination, Kai’d let him in on the Beginnings of a major Secret. Pretending that her most recent attempt at Divination’d actually worked, she swore up and down that what wasta come with the pair of blondes was meant to be. Forming a band with them was actually gonna work out, and better than he coulda both Dreamt of and hoped for.

After another phone call, it was agreed that Bret and Rikki’d just come over to hang out and jam in his garage. It was certainly harder to move the taller blonde’s kit since he turned out to be a drummer, but they’d one thing going for them that the brunette teen didn’t. Both of them’d their own car, so it’d be easier for them to move gear from one placeta another than it’d be for him.

Due to waking up to a most pleasant surprise, Rob was in the shower when said blonde duo turned up and rang the doorbell. Luckily, Butch’d a Day off work, and he’d already taken it upon himself to stay home and make sure the house was still standing when his parents got off work that Eve. To that End, he levered himself up off the couch and headed over to answer the door, already knowing who it was. He might not know which blonde was which right off the bat, but that was a trivial matter since he was sure they’d introduce themselves.

Said pair of blondes seemed surprised when a short-haired, ginger version of the man they were supposed to be meeting up with answered. The young man’d admitted that he was the youngest of three siblings, but he hadn’t given the slightest description of said older siblings. In fact, he hadn’t said whether he’d brothers, sisters, or one of each when he’d told them that much last week. Still, they were quick to take it in stride and shake off their surprise as they held out their handsta him.

“I’m Rikki, and this is Bret,” the taller of the pair said as he accepted his handshake.

“Don, but you’ll prolly hear me get called Butch a lot,” he chuckled.

“Got a preference?” Bret queried as he turned to accept his handshake, too. “What I’m assuming is your lil brother’s already said that pretty much nobody but your mom gets away with calling him Bobby.”

“That lil ass is pretty much the only one to get away with calling me Butch,” Don laughed, stepping back to let them in.

“Didn’t seem like an ass when we met him last week,” he chuckled.

“Oh, trust me–he’ll show his true Colors eventually,” the ginger told them.

“Do I even wanna know whatcha mean?” Rikki queried, cocking a brow curiously.

“Ah, he ain’t a bad kid, if that’s what you’re thinking,” he said. “Got a work ethic like none I’ve ever seen before, with or without a push from his girlfriend here and there, and a helluva wicked sense of humor.”

“Definitely sounds like the kinda guy we’re looking for,” the shorter blonde laughed.

“Well, Kai’s already in the garage,” Don told them. “Rob’ll join ya once he gets outta the shower.”

“She ain’t gonna kill us or anything, is she?” He couldn’t help pretending to cower in Fear.

“Don’t start making moves on her, and she’s as harmless as a kitten,” the ginger said, grinning. “But start making moves on her, and she’ll show ya uses for drumsticks thatcha prolly didn’t even think existed.”

Rikki couldn’t help a shiver as he said that he preferred his gear _not_ get used as weapons on his person, which told him who was the drummer outta the pair. Even still, he couldn’t help a grin as he said that she wouldn’t bother wasting her Time going after his gear. He wouldn’t elaborate on what he meant, preferring to let them find out for themselves, but _did_ say that doing such a thing wouldn’t be necessary for her.

Heading toward the door Don pointed them to, neither blonde was expecting to suddenly hear what could only be called a bouncing bass riff. Clearly, the song that was being played was pretty upbeat–in fact, it almost sounded like whoever was playing was veritably walking the fret board. The thing that got them, though, was that it wasn’t any song they’d ever heard before, or like any they _had_ heard.

Stepping into the garage, they saw that it was Kai playing with such expert precision, which was as much a surprise as it was funny-looking. If she wasn’t closeta a foot shorter than even her boyfriend, they’d find a way to suck their own dicks and call it a Night. That was what made seeing her with an instrument easily three-quarters of her height strapped to her, her hands seemingly flying as she played. But they were quick to collect themselves at the dirty look she shot them as she ripped into what was clearly the chorus of whatever she was playing.

“I see you’ve discovered one of her Secrets.”

Turning to look behind them, they saw that a damp-haired Rob’d finally joined the party, as it were.

“Yeah, I guess we have,” Rikki chuckled, a bit surprised when he actually moved to give them both a one-armed hug.

“Not the only Secret she’s hiding, by far,” the brunette teen laughed.

“Do it and watch where my drumstick winds up, hon,” she chuckled as she muted her strings.

“Wait, you’re a drummer, too?” This caught the taller blonde’s attention for obvious reasons.

“I’m pretty much a one-woman band,” Kai laughed, handing off the bass she was using to her boyfriend.

“Holy shit,” Bret said with a laugh of his own. “That an original or something?”

“Believe it or not, yeah,” the young woman answered. “Rob’s still working on the bass riff to it since we were writing it for shits and giggles.”

Two sets of blue eyes turned to him, and he couldn’t help blushing slightly. “So, I’m not the idiot savant that _she_ is–fuckin’ bite me, if ya dare.”

“I’m kinda curiousta hear whatcha got,” the shorter blonde admitted. “Might give us some Insight into _his_ Music tastes, if he helped write it.”

“Eh, he pretty much did the lyrics,” she admitted. “I suck at writing poetry, and that’s what lyrics boil down to, after all.”

“Doesn’t mean we can’t listen unless you’re just not willing to play it,” Rikki retorted with a grin.

“Well, let’s see how well ya can keep up with this crash-course on drums, lil drummer boy,” Kai goaded him, settling behind the kit in the corner.

Counting herself in, she waited all of five seconds before veritably attacking her kit with a fervor even the taller of the blondes usually couldn’t manage without being seriously pissed. While she was shocking them shitless, Rob snickered under his breath as he lengthened his strap again so he could actually play. God only knew that when his girlfriend got a hold of his rig, his bass’d be up at his chest once he got it back from her due to their obvious height difference.

Smirking as she rounded out the song all of three minutes later, the young woman rose and held out her sticks. He could clearly read the challenge in her eyes, which he finally realized were just as Dark as her boyfriend’s and eagerly took the offered sticks from her. That was when he settled behind the kit and proved that he damn near had a photographic memory when it came to drum rhythms.

Kai then turned her attention to his friend, whom she handed her spare guitar to since it was already tuned to the key this song was in. She said he didn’t have to join them, if he didn’t wanna, but he’d be better off using her rig, if he was gonna. At least he wouldn’t have to fuck up whatever tuning his was already in unless it turned out that they were gonna have to, anywhore. He struck her as the lead vocalist, so she was willing to bet that his rig was already tuned to match his voice, which meant her boyfriend would End up being the one having to retune.

_“Get up, get out, move on, move on_ – _there’s no doubt… I’m all wrong, you’re right_ – _it’s all the same with you,”_ she sang once Rikki’d counted them in and they’d made it through the intro. _“I’m too thin, too fat_ – _you ask why… So why, so why, so why, so why? On and on and on and on…on and on and on and on!”_

At that point, her boyfriend stepped up to his own mic, still managing pretty well with that insane bass riff she’d carved out.

_“Don’t wanna grow up_ – _I wanna get out! Hey, take me away! I wanna shout out,_ Take me away, away, away, away, awaaaa-aaaa-aaaay!” they sang in unison.

_“’Round and ’round, here we go again_ – _same old start, same old End… Turn my head, I turn back again_ – _same old shit, never Ends…”_

The young woman didn’t even try to hide her smirk as she glanced over at her boyfriend, who flushed slightly as he looked back down at his instrument.

_“Do this, do that_ – _can’t deal, can’t deal with that… I tune in, tune out_ – _I’ve heard it all before… Hello, goodbye_ – _never asking me why… Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye! On and on and on and on…on and on and on and on!”_

The couple repeated the chorus again before Kai ripped in a solo that was nothing short of brain-rebooting for those who weren’t accustomed to her talent. In fact, the pair of blondes almost stopped playing mid-song due to their surprise, but somehow managed to fire up enough brain cellsta keep going. Still, Bret realized there was no way in hell he’d ever be on par with this chick, and it was a bit humiliating for him as a man, no matter his age.

_“Don’t wanna grow up_ – _I wanna get out! Hey, take me away! I wanna shout out,_ Take me away, away, away, away, away! _Don’t wanna grow up_ – _I wanna get out! Hey, take me away! I wanna shout out,_ Take me away, away, away, away, awaaaa-aaaa-aaaay!”

After that double repetition of the chorus, Rob took a step back from his mic again, unable to help a smirk as he let his girlfriend lead them out.

_“’Round and ’round, here we go again_ – _same old story, the same old End… Turn my head, I turn back again_ – _same old shit, never Ends.”_

* * *

After a couple hours of jamming to the point that they gave poor Butch a migraine, the group finally headed back into the actual house when Lynda called her progeny in for dinner. Their guests were also invited to join them, and the only reason they took her up on it was due to Bret’s Health. It turned out that he’d been diagnosed with Type I diabetes at the tender age of six, and it was edging on Time for him to take his insulin and eat before his sugar got outta whack.

Still, he and Rikki couldn’t help but be anything short of amazed by the brunette couple’s talent, and they made no bones about it. Both blondes agreed that Rob could still use some work on his bass skill, which he readily agreed with. He said that he’d only recently switched to bass–as in, within the last couple Years–’cuz it seemed like everyone in the area was hunting a bassist, not a third guitarist.

“Hey, that’s not to say you’re bad or anything,” the taller blonde reassured him with a gentle clap on the shoulder.

“Ya said it yourself earlier,” Bret agreed with a chuckle. “You’re no idiot savant like your girl, so we wouldn’t expectcha to be right up there with Aerosmith and Van Halen yet.”

“Can’t all be Music Witches, boys,” said girl snickered, taking them by surprise.

“What, now?” the shorter blonde queried, his eyes widening as he paused in checking his sugar.

“Being mostly Native American and Pacific Islander, it’s Natural that I’m Pagan, not Christian,” Kai said, her shrug not quite as nonchalant as she’d Intended.

“It’s a bit of a sore point for her, guys,” her boyfriend gently broke in.

“Hey, they’ll find out eventually, if this works out like my Vision swears it will,” she told him. “They might as well know right off the bat, if ya ask me.”

Nodding, Rob simply rubbed her back as she turned her attention back to the young men in question.

Bret and Rikki were both surprised that she’d been abandoned by her father as an infant, then later taken from her mother’s custody when the woman turned out to be abusive. Neither realized any more than her boyfriend that those were actually memories of whomever she’d become upon Traveling back from 2019, and they didn’t exactly need to. All that mattered was that they knew she’d a hard background only Music’d gotten her through, and that was one of the reasons she and her boyfriend had connected so strongly right off the bat for being so young.

Over the course of dinner, he and Kai learned more about the pair of blondes as much as his family did. As it turned out, the taller of the pair’d a younger sister whose name was Vicki, and his mother was once a Rockette. The shorter of the pair’d two older sisters–Michelle and Nicole–but that was pretty much where their similarities beyond mutual Music choices Ended. While Rikki’d a family that was just as tight-knit as the Dall family, Bret came from as broken a home as the young woman. Well, not quite as broken since he admitted that he wasn’t an abused child thrown into the system any more than his older sisters were.

His parents’d started drifting apart as the stress of dealing with a constantly-sick child started getting to them more and more. One afternoon just three short Years ago, he’d walked in from school to find out not just that they Intended to get divorced, but that his mother’d already left. She’d just packed her things and quietly moved out while he and his sisters were in school, the only contact she Intended to have via by phone or meeting up at a neutral, public place like the Dairy Queen.

“So, instead of doing something stupid and drastic–like going off my insulin and waiting to die–I started pouring my pain into Music,” he explained. “Whether it’s tunes I grew up on, tunes I at least attempt to write, myself–it’s all going into the Music, all the same.”

“Sounds like what I did,” Kai chuckled, squeezing her boyfriend’s hand where their fingers were now laced on the tabletop.

“Whaddaya mean?” Rikki queried curiously.

“That song I taught y’all the drum and rhythm–well, rhythm to…I wrote it ’cuz he and I got into a relationship-killer of a fight a couple Years ago,” she answered.

Both blondes winced sympathetically as they glanced between them.

“Instead of letting that bring an End to something few find at this age, I poured my Rage into that song, particularly the drums,” the young woman continued.

“God knows I winced through writing half the lyrics for her, but then I started thinking about them a lil differently,” Rob chuckled as he gave _her_ hand a squeeze this Time. “Whenever _she’s_ the one to make _me_ mad, I just start singing that song, and it Calms me down before I can do anything stupid.”

“Can’t say that’s an altogether bad thing,” the taller blonde mused. “Not that I’d know how it feelsta be in a relationship for so long–and from such a young age, at that.”

“Yeah, that’s the part that _still_ surprises me,” he laughed. “I mean, that kinda puppy Love usually fizzles out in a month or two, at best.”

“Must mean you’re Soul mates or something, lil brother,” Patty chuckled as she ruffled his hair playfully.

“Hey, hands off unless ya want me giving _you_ a new ’do while you’re asleep!” the youngest man growled, shooting her a dirty look.

Everybody gathered around the table cracked up as he straightened his hair as much as he could, considering how wavy it was by Nature. As he finger-combed what his girlfriend knew were some incredibly soft tresses, he simply rolled his eyes at the others’ laughter. Those who knew him best knew he couldn’t stand when anyone short of Kai played with his hair for any reason. His girlfriend was the only exception to that rule, simply ’cuz she knew how to do it without giving him a nasty migraine.

After dinner, Bret and Rikki bid their goodbyes on the grounds that they’d definitely be coming back to jam again whenever they all had another Day off. Well, that was provided that his parents were agreeable to letting them use their garage as a practice Space, of course. If they weren’t, they’d just swing by to pick him up since the taller blonde’s parents definitely didn’t mind such a thing.

With the kitchen and dining room restored to rights, Rob dragged his girlfriend off to their room to retire for the Night. He wasn’t necessarily in a dirty mood, considering that he’d to get up early for work in the Morn, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t up for some serious cuddle therapy. The good thing was that it appeared Kai was just as up for that, judging by how she was content to snuggle into his embrace once they stripped and crawled into their bed. In fact, a smile crossed both their faces as the young man pulled their covers up, locking in the body heat that ultimately lulled them into a deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit for the song lyrics in this chapter goesta whoever originally wrote it! I know it as the song _Take Me Away_ from the soundtrack of the 2003 Disney movie, _Freaky Friday,_ but I've read in a couple different places that it was originally written by an all-girl Australian punk-rock band... That being said, it got stuck in my head earlier, and Inspired prolly half this chapter!  
> ~Firefly


	5. Four

_March, 1983_

_Los Angeles, California_

Not quite three Years after meeting two of the idiots who now made up his band, quite a few Changes’d been made to young Rob’s Life. First and foremost was obviously meeting those two and ultimately joining the band that they’d been trying to flesh out in the Summer of 1980. Secondly–and prolly more importantly to the young brunette–was that he’d popped the question to his girlfriend roughly eighteen months after that.

Well, he hadn’t exactly popped the question to her–at least, not in the sense that most people tended to do it. No, after going through her Grimoire–which she’d thoroughly chastised him over once she found out–he’d stumbled across a Celtic custom that seemed even more fitting. According to her notes, Mistletoe was so sacred to the Ancient Celts that legal matters’d been settled under it in Centuries and Millennia past. Due to having quite a bit of Celtic blood in his veins–although it wasn’t as obvious as it was in his brother–he’d decided to employee that custom on Christmas Eve of 1981.

Only Kai’d understood the significance of his pulling her under a bough of Mistletoe hung in one of the doorways of their house. Knowing how sacred it wasta the Celts–and that kissing under it once signified one’s Intent to marry, a second Time after the accompanying ceremony sealing the deal–she knew exactly what he was up to without having to ask.

Still, the young couple’d put off their handfasting–not to mention their legal wedding–till the Night of _Samhain_ in 1982. As far as the young woman was concerned, that was the true New Year’s Eve, as told by the Ancient standing Stones of the British Isles. Waiting till then allowed them to go into a New Year with a totally New Beginning, as far as she was concerned. But the Changes didn’t stop there since the guys’d made plansta move West in an effort to really jumpstart the band they’d formed. They felt that New York was simply too closeta home and allowed them to bail out too easily, so they’d decided to head to Los Angeles once they’d saved up what they felt was enough money. Once they’d done that and found transportation, it was off to the West Coast for all of them, including the only woman.

Having made it out to Los Angeles after buying his grandmother’s old ’78 Chevy–an ambulance they turned into the equipment van, in Rikki’s case–their top priority was food and housing. Luckily for Rob and his young wife, they’d both been working ever since their high school graduation between getting a two-Year college degree. They’d been able to stockpile quite the hefty sum, and those degrees opened up doorways that weren’t open to the others. Even though they were willing to help the others out to a certain extent, they’d to think about themselves first. It was for that reason that they managed to lease an apartment just big enough for the two of them and their few meager belongings.

“I swear, ya two’re insanely too lucky,” Rikki chuckled as he and the guys helped them carry said belongings into the apartment.

“Seriously, ’cuz what person our age pretty much gets a penthouse?” Bret agreed with a laugh.

“That’s what busting your ass and saving every penny gets ya,” the youngest man retorted, unable to help a grin.

“And since she knew what we were saving up for, Mama Lynda was all too agreeable to letting us live off her dime in the meantime,” Kai added.

“Not to mention that I bought all our rings, myself,” he said.

“Yeah, there’s that, too,” the young woman agreed.

“I still can’t believe you’re married, man.” This was said by the final, Darkest blonde that’d joined their band, a guy by the name of Matt Smith.

“Why–’cuz I just turned nineteen in November?” Rob laughed.

“And your wife turned nineteen not even a month before that, if I remember whatcha told me correctly,” he pointed out.

“Well, we’ve been together since we were twelve,” she chuckled. “Being together for so long without splitting up even once, it was bound to happen sooner or later.”

“May the wedding vows _not_ be the final nail in the coffin then, so to speak,” the tallest blonde said.

“Something tells me that if not even high school and hormone-driven fights could break us up, not much of anything else will, either,” Kai retorted.

“Well, unless I turn into a full-on lush, or get addicted to something,” her husband chuckled. “’Cuz I could see something like _that_ breaking us up.”

“Only if you’re not working toward getting clean,” the young woman told him. “If you’re trying, I’m staying, but if you’re not, I’m out–and that appliesta myself, too.”

Unable to help himself, Rob snagged her for a quick kiss before they all headed back outside for yet more boxesta be brought in and unpacked. Once everything was at least brought into their new, two-story apartment, they’d worry about unpacking it a lil at a Time. After all, neither of them were inclined to wear themselves out entirely by rushing to get it done in a Day or two. The fact that they’d just driven clean across the country only added to that mindset, and their friends completely understood.

After a couple hours and repeated trips outside, all the boxes that the young couple’d packed were in the apartment. One of their reasons for not wanting to unpack much yet was that they still needed to make a trip to a furniture store so they’d even have placesta store the majority of it. It didn’t exactly make senseta unpack much beyond a few clothes without anywhere to put said belongings afterward.

Since they obviously needed a bed to sleep in, Kai suggested that they go ahead and get trucking before any of them got too tired. Even though there were undoubtedly delivery guys that’d bring any furniture they Ended up buying into the apartment, they’d prolly wind up needing their friends’ help. No doubt they’d have to do at least a lil bit of rearranging here and there to get everything into the perfect place before it was all said and done. Delivery guys might not do that part, but she was pretty sure dinner and beer could convince the trio of blondesta do it with lil, if any complaint. Judging by the way their eyes all lit up, she was pretty sure she was onto something with that, and her husband was inclined to agree as he grabbed his keys.

By the Time Noon rolled around, they’d picked out a country-esque living room set in a Dark brown leather that suited the young woman’s personality. The dining room suit they picked was in a Dark Wood with gray cushioning, but matched well enough for the level of sophistication it added. As for the patio set they picked, which was Bronze with cushions of a paler gray–well, it added even more eleganceta their new home. However, the bedroom suit–which she let Rob’ve the Joy and Honor of picking–was closer to their country-esque living room suit in its simplicity.

Eerily reminiscent of something found along the Beach on the East Coast, it bespoke his originally being from Miami, Florida well. Not only that, but between its twin nightstands, dresser, and the storage built into the actual bed frame, they pretty much didn’t need any other furniture pieces for their bedroom. After all, they’d a pretty big walk-in closet for being in an apartment, so they already had a ton of storage Space. Then again, if they decided they needed more dressers–or even the matching bureau and five-drawer chest–they’d an unused bedroom they could put them in. It wasn’t like they’d any kidsta worry about, or were even remotely planning on such a thing just yet, after all.

“I think we did pretty good, hon,” the young woman chuckled as they headed back out to his car after their excursion.

“Yeah, I’ve to agree,” Rob admitted. “Course, I’m just glad that we managed to find matching sets that were on sale.”

“Seriously,” she agreed. “I mean, this is already putting quite the dent in our bank account, as is.”

“I don’t even wanna imagine how bad it woulda been, if all these sets’d been full price,” the young bassist said, shivering in horror.

“We’d prolly be flat-broke till we could start those new jobs we’re gonna be working between getting Paris off the ground,” Kai laughed.

“Can anybody say the _starving artist diet?”_ Bret chuckled, the guys all piling into his back seat before they climbed in to get settled.

“I think we’re gonna be doing enough of that _without_ emptying our bank account on furniture,” he dead-panned.

“Especially since we’ll prolly be helping to feed the rest of y’all idgits, too,” the young woman agreed with a grin. “But I’d rather y’all live to see another Sunrise than make y’all go hungry, even when I wanna bean y’all with one of the skillets I’ve to useta cook that food.”

“We love ya, too, Kai!” Rikki laughed, leaning up to mime kissing her cheek.

Laughing as she mimed being grossed out, she quite literally grabbed the drummer by the face and shoved him into the back seat. She’d a thing about no one invading her personal Space unless she allowed it, which he damn well knew, and her husband was pretty much the only exception to that rule. As long as she wasn’t in pain or something, Rob even had permission to start a romp while she was still asleep, if he woke up horny in the middle of the Night. Her only rule when it came to that was that he’d better not so much as rub her back, if he hadn’t grabbed a rubber from wherever he hid his stash.

Upon arriving back at their new home, the young couple decided it was best to go ahead and decide on what to order for dinner. At the moment, they’d absolutely no groceriesta speak of since they still needed to make a run to whatever grocery store happened to be nearby. Not only that, but with everything still packed up, they wouldn’t have been able to cook, even if they _did_ have groceries.

It didn’t take very long for all of them to decide on pizza since Kai wasn’t the slightest bit fond of Asian food, no matter were it originated. The guys all chipped in what they could, even though it wasn’t much since they’d to save their money even more than the young couple. But by the Time they made their decision, there was a knock at the front door, no doubt from the delivery crew arriving with the first batch of their furniture.

While the young bassist headed next door to introduce himself to their new neighbors and ask about using their phone to put in his order, his wife got started on directing the delivery guys. Just so they weren’t tripping over what they brought in, she thought it was a good idea to start with the patio set since it was going outside for obvious reasons. The accessta said patio branched off the living room, and it’d be easier to get that lil bit outside without anything else in their way. From there, the living room suit’d be the next pieces brought in, followed by the dining room suit they’d chosen. They’d worry about getting it arranged exactly the way they wanted it after said delivery guys’d been tipped and left.

“I’m thinking on this End of the patio, hon,” the young woman said once they got started on arranging their new furniture.

“Ya sure, love?” Rob queried, pausing with one of the two chairs from the set he carried.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” She was quick to nod as she stepped outta his way. “I’m thinking the couch up against the railing, the chairs on either side of it so one’s facing the window, the other away from it.”

“Ya know, I don’t think that’ll look half-bad once we get it all set up,” Rikki mused, his head cocked as he tried to picture what she was saying with a critical eye.

“If nothing else, it’ll avoid blocking the door, that’s for sure,” Kai chuckled.

“Hey, that’ll work for me,” the young bassist said, setting down the chair he carried under the window that looked into their new living room.

“Works for us, too,” Bret grunted, working with the final blonde to move said couch into place.

“Let Rikki get that chair put down, and then comes the hard part,” the young woman snickered as she headed back inside.

“Why’d we agree to this again?” he groaned, doing a back-bend to crack his back once his hands were free.

“Barely having to pay a thing for dinner and booze compared to what we’d have paid, if we paid for our own meals,” Matt chuckled, reaching up to tie his hair back.

Once back in the apartment, they got to work on arranging the living room suit, which was basically split between two different areas. There was a Love seat and coffee table that was going in front of the fireplace so they wouldn’t block the patio door, but were close enough for snuggling up on chilly Nights. At the other End of the room, the full sofa and matching recliner–not to mention the other coffee table–were going in the far corner so they boxed in the TV settled on the floor.

With that done, the group got the dining room suit set up, both ’cuz it was the next room on the list as they worked their way upstairs and so they could eat. Kai insisted the sideboard be up against the wall that separated dining room from kitchen so it’d be outta the way, but still accessible. Then she insisted the table be turned so that two of the chairs be against the other wall, two more across the table from those so they were near the doorway that led to the den and dry bar. After that, the final two chairs’d be put on either End of the table, enough Space between one and the sideboard to get by.

After killing off their dinner and letting it settle a bit, the group migrated upstairsta get the last lil bit done before they got too tired to bother. Rob agreed with his wife when she said it was prolly best to put their behemoth of a bed on the back wall of their bedroom so it faced the door. It was pretty obvious that their nightstands’d go on either side of the bed, while the dresser went next to said door.

The next hour or so passed by relatively quickly, yet seemed to drag on like molasses in Wintertime due to their collective exhaustion. Both of the newlyweds refused to let their friends leave at that point since they’d nowhere to go and were all too exhausted to drive. Till they found accommodations of their own–as well as got some sleep so they could get there–they could crash on their couch and Love seat downstairs. Given that, they ran the guys off to take turns with the other full bathroom upstairs so they could grab showers and wash off all the sweat they’d worked up. It was Time to break in their own shower and new bed in the best way possible, and they wanted their privacy for that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who's curious, here's linksta not just the model for Rob's and Kai's new apartment, but the furniture sets they picked out. I just wanna note that since I can't open the actual .jpg of the apartment's floor plan in a separate tab on my laptop like I can on my phone, I used the _Veneto Penthouse_ under the two-bedroom tab for that.  
> ~Firefly
> 
> Link to Rob's and Kai's Apartment–https://www.apartments.com/palazzo-east-apartments-los-angeles-ca/32ghtcd/
> 
> Link to Patio Set–https://assets.roomstogo.com/cindy-crawford-home-lake-como-antique-bronze-4-pc-outdoor-sectional-with-ash-cushions_7070226P_image-room?cache-id=50d59f376c6028c4d9c33f1affcd9347&h=550
> 
> Link to Living Room Suit–https://assets.roomstogo.com/eric-church-highway-to-home-renegade-brown-leather-6-pc-dual-power-reclining-living-room_1341361P_image-room?cache-id=9dadf9aceb7b5da1f8782156709bb687&h=550
> 
> Link to Dining Room Suit–https://assets.roomstogo.com/hill-creek-black-5-pc-counter-height-dining-room_4316105P_image-room?cache-id=e334c76b420d18d85ca1081c64c19f3b&h=550
> 
> Link to Bedroom Suit–https://assets.roomstogo.com/hilton-head-gray-7-pc-king-storage-bedroom_3383594P_image-room?cache-id=ca3efa059eb31fc1ea50e3c600f39a32&h=550


	6. Five

_June, 1985_

Another two Years passed, and by that point, the young band had faced more adversity in one way or another than they prolly ever had before. The blondes who comprised three-quarters of it’d finally found something resembling housing within a month of making it out to California. Granted, they were squatting in an old, abandoned warehouse in one of the roughest neighborhoods on the East side of Town, but at least they’d a relatively decent roof over their heads.

Having started their jobs as a cosmetologist and graphic designer, respectively, Rob and Kai were able to rake in quite a bit of cash for themselves. They were both kind enough to help the guys with their basic needs when necessary, and the bassist did his part for funding the band, but that’s where spending their money on anyone but themselves Ended.

Somehow, they managed to keep the band alive pretty well for really only booking gigs in small, local bars, starting shortly after their arrival. It was tough to hold down a job that forced him to be Diurnal five Days a week, then be Nocturnal for his band on the weekends, but the lone brunette managed it pretty well. Unfortunately, he wasn’t really able to do more by way of promoting said band unless he just left a stack of flyers for it on the reception desk at work. His boss wasn’t exactly fond of him doing that at first, but after finally coming to check out one of their gigs, he let him get away with it. The man’d quickly understood why he was so exhausted on Moon’s Day Morns, but seen what he was doing.

But all that came crashing to a halt one Day just over two Years after they’d made it to Los Angeles and really gotten started on getting the band off the ground. If anyone woulda been even somewhat expected to make the mistake of knocking up their girl, it woulda been the lone brunette of the band. After all, he’d gotten married shortly before leaving Penn, and he was notoriously sexually active with said wife long before then. To have their lead guitarist turn up and say that he’d gotten the news that he was gonna be a father and was going back East–well, it was a shock, to say the least.

Luckily for the guys, Kai turned out to be even more of a saving Grace than she’d have seemed at first glance. When Matt quit literally the Day before a gig they’d booked a month previous, she’d stepped up to the plate, so to speak. Even though she clearly didn’t wanna, she plugged in her guitar and joined the rest of them on the stage, her Intent being that it wouldn’t happen more than a handful of Times. That handful of Times’d turned into her becoming their lead guitarist for over a Year while they were auditioning other guitarists since she was a Self-proclaimed idiot savant. Even though the guys tried to talk her into taking the gig full-Time, she refused on the grounds that it wasn’t her thing. Not only that, but a few record deals’d been offered–on the grounds that they ditched the female guitarist.

“Well, here’s hoping this one pans out,” Bret sighed.

The group was gathered at the warehouse he and Rikki were still squatting in, only two guys on the audition list for today.

“Fuckin’ seriously,” said taller blonde agreed, dragging a hand down his face.

“May he be anywhere near as good as my wife,” Rob said. “Preferably better, but I’m not too sure _anyone_ on the Planet can outdo her.”

“I guess we’ll see,” he chuckled, getting up to answer the door when they heard a knock.

None of them were quite sure what to make of the seemingly faceless guy that walked in, a gig bag slung over his shoulder. They were quick to realize that he wasn’t actually faceless–he just had some seriously bushy hair that blocked his face, if he didn’t tie it back. He introduced himself as Slash, quick to get down to business by pulling his guitar outta its bag and plugging it in.

“He’s pretty damn good,” the bassist mused, having pulled his friends closer so they’d hear him over the volume of the amp.

“Yeah, I’d say he’s right up there with Kai, for sure,” Rikki agreed, nodding as he sat up straight again.

“That was pretty damn good, man,” the shorter blonde said once he muted his strings.

“Thanks.” Slash’s face turned a light shade of pink as he unplugged his guitar. “Not like I got this good overnight.”

“Well, we’re not all idiot savants, man,” he laughed.

The guy cocked a brow before moving to restore his guitar to its bag.

“He’s talking about my wife,” Rob spoke up with a chuckle. “That’s how she defined herself when she shocked Rikki shitless the second Time she met him back East.”

“Oh, really?” he queried, unable to help a chuckle of his own.

Before any of them could answer, the young woman decided to answer for herself–in her own way.

Slash’s eyes widened at what he heard, part of him still surprised to see a woman walk outta what he thought mighta been a bedroom with a guitar strapped to her.

“That answer your question well enough?” she laughed, never missing a beat as she continued sawing out her lead riff.

“Yeah, I guess it does,” the curly-haired man answered. “Can’t say I’ve ever heard that one before, though.”

“’Cuz ya haven’t,” Kai told him. “Wrote it after Rob and I got into a relationship-killer of a fight a couple Years before we met the blonde idgits.”

“Hey, we resemble that remark!” said blondes chorused.

“Yeah, I know y’all do, or I wouldn’t have called y’all that,” she quipped, her grin never fading.

Pulling her strap over her shoulder after unplugging her guitar, the young woman moved to shake the hand of the guy auditioning. Inviting him to take a seat, she was quick to explain that she’d started calling herself an idiot savant ’cuz it seemed that she could play damn near any instrument she laid hands on. She’d even taught herself how to play piano, alongside a couple Wind instruments, in addition to guitar, bass, and drums, she was so good.

Nodding, Slash admitted that he was a bit of an idiot savant when it came to guitar, and he was decent on bass in his own right. But when it came to any other instrument, he pretty much just looked at it with a _What the fuck do ya expect me to do with this thing?_ kinda look. That didn’t stop him from looking for a band he fit in with, though, even though that hadn’t quite happened yet.

Quick to agree that finding someone to replace their original lead guitarist was no easier, the others started laying out their Vision for their band. The thing that was more than a bit of a hang-up was when this particular audition refused to wear makeup and dress in what he considered gaudy attire like the rest of them. He said that there were a lotta things he was willing to do in order to make it big, but that wasn’t one of those things. It was right up there with _not_ risking Life, limb, and manhood was for those he was auditioning for today.

“Well, good Luck finding a band that’s the same Vision as you,” Bret told him.

“Yeah, ’cuz unfortunately, we’re not Changing our own Vision for just one guy,” the taller blonde agreed.

Slash cut a gaze at the lone brunette, who simply smirked.

“Hey, if I’m willing to let my wife tie me up and do ungodly thingsta me, why wouldn’t I be willing to all but dress in drag for a gig?” he laughed.

“Oh, God–dude, we didn’t need to know that!” Rikki cackled.

“Maybe not, but it’s true,” the bassist shot back with a grin. “Besides, I’d like to think you’ve gotten to know me well enough by now to know that I’m more than a lil crazy.”

“Seriously, man,” the shorter blonde chuckled. “We’ve only known ya for five Years now–we _oughta_ know just how crazy ya really are.”

“May the next guy to audition be just as fuckin’ nuts, then,” the curly-haired man laughed. “’Cuz he’s gonna need to be to deal with ya lot.”

With no hard feelings between them, he bid his goodbyes and walked out the door to continue his search for a band that he fit in with. Kai was the only one outta the remaining group who knew that he’d eventually achieve that goal, although it was gonna be fraught with trouble and Danger. She didn’t say a word about that, though, since she still hadn’t told even her husband exactly what she knew about all their Futures and how she knew it.

That included knowing who the next guy to walk in was as soon as she clapped eyes on him, even though he looked almost nothing like any pictures she’d ever seen of him. Hearing him introduce himself as CC DeVille wasn’t a surpriseta her, although she managed to _act_ like she was surprised. Not even Bret deciding that he wasn’t the right fit for the band and excusing himself to sit outside was a surpriseta her since she knew that was gonna happen. Even still, she sat back with the remaining pair to listen to what he brought to the table, a bit of a smirk on her face.

Rob and Rikki were all but blown away when this guy refused to play any of their existing riffs, but rather ripped into one of his own. On the other hand, she knew exactly what song he’d just ripped into–one that was ultimately gonna become one of the band’s biggest hits. The song was entitled _Talk Dirty to Me,_ and she knew it’d appear on what’d become their debut album this Time next Year.

_“Ya know I never…I never seen ya look so good_ – _ya never act the way you should… But I like it, and I know you like it, too_ – _the way that I want you… I gotta have you_ – _oh, yes, I do!”_

The young bassist turned a surprised look on his wife, but it wasn’t nearly as surprised as that of the guitarist, who suddenly muted his strings mid-song.

“How on Earth…?” CC started, his blue eyes so wide, they looked like they’d pop outta their sockets.

“That was pretty damn good, if ya were actually trying to get it to fit the riff,” Rikki mused.

“What I wanna know is how on Earth didja know the lyrics I wrote for it?” the midget of a blonde queried through his shock.

“I guess ya could say I’ma couple steps shy of being an all-Knowing Goddess,” Kai laughed. “It just popped in my head, so I figured why not?”

Her husband was clearly suspicious of that explanation, but chose not to remark on it at the moment since that could wait.

“Why not, indeed?” he agreed with a laugh. “’Cuz that rhythm’s better than anything I’ve managed so far.”

“So, ya really wrote that song, yourself?” Rob asked, turning his attention back to him.

“Yeah, something I’ve been working on between auditions for shits and giggles,” CC answered, nodding. “Don’t have drums or bass yet, but then again, I’m not exactly good on bass at the moment–and I’m definitely no drummer.”

Smirking, the young woman disappeared for a moment and Returned with her bass that she’d bought since moving out West. “Take it from the top, C.”

Clearly wondering what she was up to, but too curious _not_ to find out, the midget of a blonde nodded and counted himself in before ripping into his riff again. After about six seconds, Kai joined him with a bass riff that was simple in Nature, but sounded like she’d played it a million Times before. He was so surprised as they worked their way through the first verse, which was where that bass riff _really_ picked up, that he almost stopped playing.

The others were surprised as the young woman worked her way through the raunchy chorus with a grin on her face. Even Bret couldn’t help but peek back in the door, his jaw dropping as he clearly heard the lyrics being sung in such a sultry tone. But he was prolly even more surprised by just how well the pair were playing together, almost as if _they_ were the ones Destined to be in a band together.

Once they’d rounded out the song, she pulled her strap over her head with a laugh, which only got louder when she saw the look on her husband’s face. Rob was sitting there with his legs crossed, which she knew he only did when he was trying to hide Wood. It was pretty obvious that he liked what he heard, both as far as the Music went _and_ when it came to her vocals. The fact that even Rikki seemed impressed by the half-done, impromptu performance told her the deal was sealed as much as it woulda been, even if she _hadn’t_ Time Traveled.

Grudgingly agreeing to give him and any other songs he’d already written a shot, the vocalist made no promises about this lineup actually working out. Even though this guy brought far more Energy and crazinessta the lineup than any others they’d auditioned, he just simply didn’t like him. Kai laughed again as she patted him on the back on her way to put up her bass, saying that it wasn’t about whether he liked CC or not. Playing it off as yet more Divination that’d actually worked, she swore up and down that this was the guy who was gonna help this band hit heights they’d only Dreamt of up to this point. If they turned him away simply ’cuz he didn’t like him, they might as well just pack up their gear and head back East to live their Lives like a bunch of average Joes.

Upon getting back to their apartment after going their separate ways, though, the young bassist finally cornered her. He made no bones about how she’d always seemed to know things she couldn’t possibly know, and otherwise prolly shouldn’t. Sighing as they settled onto the patio couch to enjoy a mild Night, she finally came clean about her reason for seeming so weird. It took a bit to actually convince him, but by the End of their conversation–well, convinced, Rob most certainly was. Not only that, but that one conversation was all it took to get him to put down the bottle for good, now that he knew where his Future was gonna go, if he didn’t.

He just hoped that they could convince the othersta get on the straight and narrow before it was too late for them without having to give up her Secret since he wasn’t sure they’d believe her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha, first chapter of the New Year, y'all! Hopefully, y'all enjoy this Dream-Inspired Insanity of mine as much as I'm enjoying writing it so far!  
> ~Firefly


	7. Six

Another Year of playing even places like the Whisky and the Rainbow passed before the band–now using the name Poison–finally got their big break. It took till the Spring of 1986 for the guysta be taken seriously by any of the big-wig talent scouts who scoured the area, but they eventually managed to catch a break. By June, what wasta become their debut album’d been recorded in all of eight or twelve Days–they lost track of how many due to how quick they’d to work to get everything tracked.

From there, things’d been taken over by producer Ric Browde so they could get the album pressed and rolled out, as it were. None of the guys liked him in the slightest, but he was the only producer willing to even take a chance on them. However, they were even, ’cuz the producer in question didn’t like them or the style they sported–even visually–in Return.

The album that they’d entitled _Look What the Cat Dragged In_ was finally released on May sixteenth of that Year. It certainly stood out from the vast majority of albums in record stores–even ones like the sophomore album of heavy Metal monster Mötley Crüe from a few Years ago. While _Shout at the Devil_ was more than a bit shocking due to its title and the band’s use of inverted Pentacles–which Kai hated due to her chosen Spirituality– _Cat Dragged In_ was equally shocking. Hardly anyone could tell whether the faces on its cover belonged to men or women, which was exactly what the band wanted. Using something like that as a cover made people ask questions, which in turn piqued their Curiosity.

However, the band’s first serious tour in support of that debut album’d started back in March, just Days after they’d wrapped up tracking. In fact, they were playing the Reseda Country Club for the third Time on the Night of the album’s release after about a month between shows. But the guys thoroughly enjoyed that month off, which they used to psych themselves up for their real tour, as much as they enjoyed hitting the stage again. To be quite honest, it could be said that Rob’d enjoyed that month at home more than any of his band mates had.

Shortly before they’d headed to Santa Ana for their next show at the Santa Ana Stadium, he’d gotten the same kinda news that’d almost torn the band to shreds a couple Years ago. Kai turning up pregnant was bound to happen sooner or later, and all of them knew it, but they’d hoped the Timing woulda been a lil different. Even still, he refused to let that stop him from doing what he’d set out to do on the grounds that he didn’t miss his baby’s Birth. Given that she’d apparently conceived around mid-April, his wife wasn’t supposed to be due till around mid-February of the following Year. Even if he’d to ditch the tour and rush back home, he was determined to be there to see his first child born since that was a once-in-a-Lifetime kinda event.

“Bobby, ya got a phone call!” the band’s manager, Vicky, yelled from the front of their shitty tour bus.

“If it’s not my wife, just hang up on the idgit!” he slurred, having been startled awake from a decidedly good Dream about the woman in question.

“It _is_ Kai, and from the sounds of it, ya need to get your ass up!” Vicky told him.

Startled into motion, the young bassist bolted upright so fast that he slammed his head into the bottom of the bunk above him–which just happened to be Bret’s.

“Damn, man!” the vocalist yelped, startled awake in his own right.

“Sorry,” Rob said sheepishly, wincing as he rubbed his forehead.

“Where the hell’s the Fire at?” their drummer grumbled, peeking out from behind his curtain across the bunk room aisle from his own bunk.

“Apparently, Kai’s demanding my attention from afar,” he said.

It wasn’t lost on even CC why she’d be demanding his attention, considering how closeta her due date she was.

“Good thing our last show for a while was last Night,” Bret sighed as he flopped back down.

Not bothering to make a remark on that comment, he headed up front so he could meet up with Vicky. Apparently, his wife’d managed to track down their tour well enough to get in touch with their tour manager, although he wasn’t sure how. She was currently waiting for him to be led to whatever phone’d been answered, and she was more than a lil antsy.

Upon answering the call, Rob wasn’t surprised when she told him that she was already admitted to Cedars-Sinai. Only knowing that it was a mere two-mile drive from their apartment complex to that particular hospital brought him any kinda Comfort. From the horror stories his mother and sister–who’d since had two kids of her own–had told him, driving while in labor wasn’t exactly the safest thing to do. But without him there to take her to the hospital, his wife’d no other choice besides calling an ambulance, or laboring at home and hoping he got there in Time to take her.

Just like he’d said before he’d ever embarked on this tour, the young bassist swore he wasn’t gonna miss their baby’s Birth, if he’d his way about it. With the royalty payments from their album combined with what they’d been saving up for Years, he wouldn’t break the bank by flying back home on such short notice. It’d be actually _getting_ a flight outta where he currently was–which was Charleston, West Virginia–that was gonna prove to be the hard part.

_“Don’t let your Anxiety getcha into trouble, hon,”_ Kai told him, unable to help a wince as another contraction started at that moment.

“You’re clearly in pain, and I shoulda been home before this happened,” he retorted, his worry clearly heard in his voice.

_“This shit can’t be planned down to the very letter, though,”_ the young woman said. _“At least it’s not gonna make ya miss out on any shows, ’cuz that coulda happened, too.”_

“Yeah, I guess that’s true enough,” Rob acquiesced.

_“Besides, we’re already in good hands,”_ she said, sighing in relief as her contraction Ended. _“I know you’re not gonna wanna get off a plane to such news, but wouldn’tcha rather me already be admitted so that if something goes wrong, I’ve help on hand instead of being in trouble in our living room floor?”_

“Oh, I’d _definitely_ rather get off a plane to _that_ kinda news and know folks were already hard at work on helping ya,” the young bassist told her, finally managing a laugh.

_“Then get going, and maybe you’ll stand a chance of keeping your word,”_ Kai chuckled. _“Ya know my doctor, Mama Lynda, and Patty all swear that the first Time usually takes the longest.”_

“Ya say that like we’re planning on having forty-eight farmhands running around our house,” he laughed. “But I’m outta here as soon as I get some clothes on and grab my shit since I can’t run into an airport barefoot and in my underwear.”

Letting out a laugh of her own, the young woman said that that was good enough for her for the Time being. She knew he’d a point about running around in his skivvies, even in most emergency situations, being frowned upon by most of society. Knowing that he already pushed the envelope with what was acceptable, considering the length of his hair and how much makeup he wore, she didn’t want him pushing things _too_ far and not making it in Time.

After roughly seven hours in the Air, Rob was finally disembarking his last-minute flight at LAX, which was actually South of Los Angeles. Thankfully for him, his neighbor’d agreed to meet him at said airport to pick him up, ’cuz the guy was well aware that his wife was in labor with their first child. In fact, he’d offered to take her to the hospital, but she’d refused since she wasn’t far enough in that she couldn’t drive herself at the Time.

Now, the trick wasta make the fourteen or so-mile drive from the airport to the hospital fast enough to avoid missing his baby’s Birth. He knew they’d to be quick since Kai’d already been laboring for eight hours, and Time was quickly running out. Still, the chances of getting into a car wreck were far higher than being a victim of a plane crash, and he’d no desire to die like that.

Thankfully, his neighbor–a guy by the name of José–got him to Cedars-Sinai in record Time without either of them being hauled in as patients. Finding his way up to labor and delivery took a bit longer than he was anticipating, but he managed to do even that pretty quickly. If anything, the charge nurse who was manning the nurse’s station he walked up to gave him more trouble than either of those things combined had. When he’d finally had enough of the woman’s run-around since she swore there was no way he was an expectant daddy, he’d just taken off and started up and down every corridor he could find with patient rooms.

Eventually, the young bassist came upon a wall placard that’d _K. Dall_ scrawled into the patient slot, which was exactly what he was looking for. Ignoring the idiot of a charge nurse who’d been chasing after him, he gave a mere cursory knock before opening the door, surprised to find that it wasn’t locked. Course, he _wasn’t_ surprised when another nurse tried to stop him from entering, which just made him let out a ferocious growl that scared her into back-pedaling with a quickness. Turning his attention to the lone bed in the room, he quickly saw why she’d tried to stop him, ’cuz it was pretty hard to miss.

“I’m here, sweetheart,” Rob crooned, leaning down to kiss his wife’s forehead.

“Fuckin’ finally!” she shrieked, sounding hoarse as she did.

“Wait, he’s _really_ your husband?” This was asked by the shocked charge nurse, who hadn’t believed a word that’d come outta his mouth.

“Well, I dunno another man whose name happensta be Rob Dall,” he snapped as he looked over at her. “Nor do I know any other guys that look like me, if ya don’t count my brother–and even _he_ doesn’t quite match the description since he’s a blue-eyed ginger.”

Seeing that things were about to get ugly, the OB/GYN between his wife’s legs quickly took charge. “Just in Time to witness the Birth of your baby then, Mr. Dall.”

“Barely, from the looks of things,” the young bassist chuckled. “But hey, that’s what happens when your band’s on tour andja just barely catch a flight outta West Virginia without having to wait two Days.”

“Then let’s get this baby welcomed into the World,” she said. “Take a deep breath and gimme another nice, big push, Mrs. Dall.”

Kai did just that, screeching like a Banshee as she let out that breath roughly ten seconds later.

Her husband quickly followed the lead of the nurse on her other side, grabbing her foot in his right hand to give her a bit of a kick plate. Even as he murmured encouragements in her ear, he helped her curl up around her gravid belly for each push. Neither of them could wait to meet their highly-unexpected baby, and knowing she was in the home stretch was the only thing to keep her going now.

It wasn’t long before said baby was finally born, a gurgle preceding the sharp shriek that quickly rent the Air of the delivery room. Only when the infant was laid upon the young woman’s breasts did the couple realize that they’d a beautiful baby girl. Rob’s eyes welled up with tears at the Thought that he’d a lil Princess, and he almost missed his target when he was allowed to cut her umbilical cord. Still, he managed to hit that slippery target, breaking the physical bond between mother and child once it fell victim to the sharp blades of the scissors he’d been handed.

The young woman couldn’t help an exhausted laugh as he leaned down to kiss her, their newborn daughter whisked off to the warming table across the room. After what she’d been through for the last twelve hours or so, delivering said daughter’s placenta was nothing in comparison. In fact, she barely felt that or her OB/GYN cleaning up her crotch as much as possible, her focus entirely on her husband for the moment.

After the delivery of the placenta and their daughter being given a clean Bill of Health, Kai was moved to a recovery room. The young bassist refused to be parted from her or his new baby girl, who was brought along for the ride since she needed to get her first feeding. He’d just barely avoided missing her Birth, and since he’d six Days shy of a month before his band was picking up the tour in Joplin, Missouri, he wanted to spend as much Time with both of them as he could. Once he’d to leave to pick up said tour where they’d left off, it was gonna be even harder than when he’d left to kick it off the Summer previous. But if there was one good thing to be said, it was that his daughter’d survived till Birth, and he now had something even more preciousta work his ass off for.


	8. Seven

_July, 1991_

_Melbourne, Florida_

By the Time the second Summer of the new decade rolled around, things were prolly at the most tense they’d ever been for the party-rock monster known as Poison. Just like his wife’d told him’d happen when she’d finally revealed the Truth about herself, Rob was both surprised and not by how his band veritably fell apart. She’d been right about the guys taking their partying a lil too far, which almost Ended in Disaster more than once. Most notably was the Time Bret’d fallen out in the middle of a show at Madison Square Garden in 1987 due to his sugar getting too far outta whack.

The next most notable occasion was just a week earlier, which was the very reason why the band’s third serious tour’d been cut short. Between their bassist accidentally breaking his hand when he slammed it in a car door and their lead guitarist’s full-fledged cocaine addiction, they were pretty much guaranteed not to finish out the full tour.

Considering that all the guys were at each others’ throats more than they weren’t and he now had a wife and _two_ children to go home to, a third on the way, the young bassist wasn’t one to argue the point. He was already nearing his breaking point when he’d broken his hand, but the aftermath of that was his final straw. Bret taking out his frustrations at their guitarist on him wasn’t fair in the slightest, and it seemed that nothing he said could Change his mind. If this was what he’d to put up with when he wasn’t feeling great, whether he was doped up on his painkiller or not, he’d much rather be at home with his family.

As for where home was these Days, it most certainly wasn’t in Southern California alongside the rest of his band. Upon finding out that he wasta be a daddy for the second Time in late-Autumn of 1988, Rob’d some long discussions with Kai about what they were gonna do. The two-bedroom apartment they were living in after all those Years just wasn’t cut out for a quickly-growing family. Not only that, but he was really missing Life on the East Coast–particularly, the heat and humidity of his home State. It’d taken him a while, but he’d finally convinced her to move to Florida before the Birth of that second child, and they’d spent his entire holiday break that Year searching for a suitable place.

Now, with their third child on the way, he wasn’t too sure how much longer even _this_ house was gonna last since it’d only four bedrooms. There was a part of him that certainly hoped they didn’t have anymore children after this, but there was a part of him that’d be glad to. He lived for and loved nothing more than his family, and adding to it certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing, as far as he was concerned.

“Daddy!”

Laughing as he was all but tackled the second he walked in his front door, the still-young bassist was all too happy to kneel down. “Hey there, chu lil boogers!”

“What the–Rob?”

Grinning as he looked up, he saw his ever-gorgeous wife in the doorway that led to the kitchen and breakfast nook. “Yeah, yeah, yeah–surprise, love!”

“Ya got that right!” Kai laughed, helping him back to his feet once their son and daughter–Aidan and Avalon–let go of him and ran off with mischievous giggles. “I wasn’t expecting ya back for easily another month, prolly longer!”

“Yeah, about that…” The bassist didn’t bother trying to hide his hand from her, knowing it wouldn’t work for long.

“What the hell happened?” she gasped, not missing his wince when she gently grabbed it to inspect its bulky bandaging.

“Car doors and being in a rush don’t mix,” Rob chuckled.

“Ran off on another one of those mini adventures again, huh?” the young woman queried, a knowing look in her eyes as she looked back up.

“Can ya really blame me for preferring a car full of pretty girlsta bus full of idgits?” he countered.

“Not really, considering I know how those idgits are all too well,” Kai admitted. “And since I know ya value your family too much to do anything stupid with those _pretty girls…”_

“Damn straight, I do.” The bassist nodded vehemently. “I know the rules there–I can look all I want, but I’d better not touch, if ya dunno about it.”

Nodding her agreement, she helped him get his bags into the master bedroom, swearing they could be unpacked later. At the moment, she wanted the full story about why he was home early from him, ’cuz she was sure there was more to it than he was currently saying. Whether it’d anything to do with how history’d gone as she’d known it before her Time Travel or not, she couldn’t say without getting those answers from him.

Rob heaved a sigh as he settled on the edge of their bed, watching almost helplessly as she took his bag of toiletries into their bathroom. He didn’t really wanna admit the full story to her, but he knew his wife all too well after all the Years they’d been together. She’d just keep needling him till he finally lost his temper and exploded, and that wouldn’t be good for anyone.

Kai wasn’t the least bit surprised when he said that things’d finally come to a head between himself and the rest of his band mates. They’d all but constantly been out on the road for the better part of five Years now, and when they weren’t on the road, they were cooped up in a recording studio. None of them ever really got enough Time away from each other, so something as stupid as a _Dear John_ letter could set them off on each other in any number of ways. Add drugs and booze on the other guys’ partsta that, and it was a Disaster just waiting to finally happen. Situations like that’d all the Stability of a Molotov cocktail, and they always exploded with a helluva bang sooner or later.

Part of her was still pissed to hear that Bret’d been taking out his frustrations over CC’s increasing dependence on cocaine on her husband. She actually growled and threatened to knock that blonde head of his right off his head the next Time she saw him. Laughing as he pushed himself back up to his tired, achy feet, he wrapped his arms around the woman who’d always been so much shorter than he was. He told her that there was no need to knock his long-Time friend and band mate’s head off, even though he agreed that his behavior wasn’t fair to him. Once they all got some Time away from each other, he was sure that while things wouldn’t ever be quite the same, they’d at least settle down enough to avoid tearing the band to shreds.

Shaking her head as she sighed, the young woman told him that that wasn’t about to happen–not by a country mile. Ever since she’d technically met him when they were fifteen, she’d made it a point not too share too much about the Future with him. In this case, she warned him that if something wasn’t done about their guitarist’s cocaine addiction, he’d about two more months that he could even call himself their guitarist. After that, he was gonna be fired on the spot–and if she were completely honest with both of them, his replacement wasn’t gonna be much better.

“I mean, don’t get me wrong,” Kai said as they headed out to the family room. “If things’ve worked out like they woulda without me Time Traveling, Richie’s a damn good musician and vocalist.”

“Oh, really?” The bassist couldn’t help his Curiosity about how much she knew.

“He’s the only one I’ve ever said could make a guitar sing like an angel and scream like a demon all at the same Time,” she chuckled.

“Damn, that’s saying something since you’re an idiot savant in your own right,” Rob mused with a whistle.

“Shit, Richie makes me look like an idiot, not an idiot savant,” the young woman laughed. “He can play more strings than I’ll ever hope of being able to, that’s for sure.”

“So, what else do ya know about him?” he queried, unable to help a groan as he flopped down in what’d become his recliner.

“Well, he’s supposed to be twenty-one, as of right now, from everything I ever learned about him in the Future,” Kai answered, settling in the floor once he extended the foot rest so she could pull his socks off for him.

“Damn, he’s a youngin, ain’t he?” the bassist chuckled, wincing as she grabbed one foot to start rubbing it.

Unable to help a laugh of her own, she continued by saying that while she didn’t necessarily think he was a bad guy at heart, he certainly made some poor decisions. Rob cocked a brow, content to enjoy his unexpected foot rub as she took her Time with piecing her Thoughts together. He wasn’t expecting what came outta his mouth next, which definitely made his jaw drop in utter shock.

Apparently, once this Richie guy was hired sometime around November–or at least, she thought it was around then–trouble was gonna be afoot almost immediately. The young woman couldn’t say _exactly_ when it’d happen, ’cuz that was one thing she’d never found out, but he’d eventually wind up in a clandestine relationship with Rikki’s current _fiancé_. According to said drummer, it was a case of the woman cheating on him with his own band mate–according to the younger man, they’d already split up before he’d given in to her advances.

The bassist couldn’t help grumbling as he rolled his eyes, part of him not wanting to believe what his wife was telling him. He said that even if he _hadn’t_ met and married her when he did, the last thing he’d have done was allow himself to be bamboozled by his band mates’ girls. Whether said girls were still Romantic with his band mates or not didn’t matter to him–it was a line that just shouldn’t be crossed all the same.

Kai was quick to agree with him, saying that all other circumstances and one’s age didn’t really matter in a case like that. She looked up at him with a serious look in her eyes as she told him that she already had a bit of a plan to keep that shit Storm from brewing, but it’d require his cooperation. That quickly caught his attention, ’cuz he knew it’d to be a damn good plan–or maybe a really shitty one–if it was gonna require his being on board with it.

But he certainly wasn’t expecting what he heard as she started laying out the bare basics of that plan for him. She was well aware that cheating was one thing, and she damn well didn’t Intend to do that–not after nearly nine Years of marriage and being together for nearly seven before that since she’d apparently taken over some other young woman’s Life. However, since she was willing to let him’ve a girlfriend on the side, if that’s what he wanted, she expected that same set of rulesta apply to herself equally and fairly. As long as he still agreed to those terms, she could put that agreement to good use–or at least, she damn well hoped she could. If she could get his next guitarist’s attention on her, Richie wouldn’t have a chanceta get involved with Rikki’s girl later on down the road.

“Ya know, that might actually work,” the bassist mused. “I mean, it wouldn’t exactly be cheating since I’d know about and consent to it before it ever happened.”

“Which’s the whole point,” she agreed. “And it’d keep Richie from leaving the band on as foul of terms as CC’s gonna.”

“Prolly more so, based on whatcha just told me,” Rob admitted. “’Cuz let’s face it–a cocaine addiction’s pretty serious business, but it’s not gonna be taken nearly as personally as making moves on your band mate’s girl.”

“Hence why I’d rather try that than what I know’ll happen, if _something’s_ not done to prevent that kinda blow-out,” the young woman said.

“Well, the only thing I’ma full-on demand–if ya wind up screwing around with this Richie guy, whether it’s to keep up appearances or not, don’t gimme details,” he told her. “I don’t wanna know what my wife does with another guy, if I’m not involved–and I got no plans of letting that happen.”

“You’re not the only one who’s not exactly thrilled by even the Thought of a threesome,” Kai laughed. “And I wouldn’t wantcha to know, if you’re not involved.”

“Well, not beyond who you’re Intent on sleeping with,” the bassist chuckled. “At least gimme some warning so I know to go beat my own meat.”

“Hey, I can live with that, if you can,” she told him. “Besides, if such a thing actually happens when I’m _not_ already pregnant, I’d prefer to know exactly who the father of my child is.”

Laughing as he finally pulled his feet outta her reach, Rob pulled her up into his lap and against the wall of muscle that made up his chest. He couldn’t help the smile still on his face that just barely faded enough for him to give her a true kiss, which was quickly Ended when their kids ran into the room. Knowing who’d fathered any Future children, if she wound up involved with the guy she swore was gonna become his band mate, would certainly be a good thing.

Finally able to relax for the first Time in quite a while, he simply enjoyed getting to spend Time with his family. Avalon was every bit as exuberant as his mother swore he was at a tender four Years old, and Aidan was still working his way outta his _terrible twos_. But there wasn’t a damn thing he’d Change about either of them–in fact, he’d rather Change his band than any of his family.


	9. Eight

_November, 1991_

Although he hadn’t wanted to believe a word of it, Rob’d been forced to admit his wife was right about what was gonna happen to his band when it was all said and done. What the World considered their original lineup’d lasted till their disastrous performance at the MTV _VMAs_ in early-September. It was immediately after that show when everything imploded and came to its final head–or rather, final fist.

With CC out and no new guitarist in sight–at least, as far as the remaining blondes were concerned–they actually started to worry about their Futures more. On the other hand, their lone brunette wasn’t nearly as worried, and it wasn’t entirely ’cuz of what Kai’d told him earlier that Summer. Since they’d done such a damn good job of saving every penny possible–even after their cross-country move–he’d other ways that he could keep the money coming in. Instead of waiting another five or ten Years like she estimated, he was Intent on opening up that rumored restaurant in the near Future.

But those plans were put somewhat on hold when his doorbell rang one afternoon a couple weeks before Thanksgiving. The bassist hadn’t been expecting anyone to pay him a visit, so he hadn’t even bothered getting dressed for the Day when he got up. After all, he was merely staying home with the kids while his wife headed off for an OB appointment since she didn’t want them bearing witnessta such things at their age.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” Rob queried, the word _pleasure_ coming out far more sarcastic than the rest of his sentence when he saw two familiar faces.

“Might we come in, dude?” Rikki countered, reaching up to rest a hand on the shoulder of the third guy, whom he _didn’t_ recognize. “I don’t think we need to be talking band business out front.”

“Depends on how much crap y’all’ve ingested thatcha shouldn’t be,” he told him, crossing his arms as he planted his feet in a stubborn stance. “Y’all might not be fathers, and therefore not have a reason to care, but I am and do.”

The third guy’s eyes widened, and he decided to take that as him having not known about that part of his Life before now.

“Can’t speak for Bret, but I’m definitely sober,” the taller blonde chuckled. “’Cuz I knew we’d get this kinda reception, so I didn’t wanna dick around.”

Rob turned his attention to the shorter blonde, who grumbled and rolled his eyes.

“A single beer on our flight–and that was yesterday,” he told him.

“Ya even remotely start acting otherwise, and I’ma drown ya in the pool so it looks like ya were drunk and fell in by accident,” the bassist warned him as he finally took a step back.

All three guys nodded as he let them into the foyer, then herded them through the archway that led into the kitchen and breakfast nook. His kids both looked up from where they’d been munching on cereal at the table, Avalon’s eyes lighting up. Even when he was on the last nerve of everybody around him, she loved even her Uncle Bret, and she wasn’t shy about showing it.

The guys were more than happy to kneel down and give her a hug, Rikki jumping in to help him out by freeing Aidan from his high chair. But even as he took their lil bowls over to the sink in the kitchen island, he couldn’t help but shoot curious looks at the shorter, obviously-younger brunette. If he were completely honest with himself, the poor kid looked like he was ready to shit himself, and he supposed his warning to his friends didn’t help that. Sighing as he reached up with a wet hand to shove his hair back, he told him that he didn’t have to be so on-edge around him since he’d no Intent of hurting him.

He was still surprised to find out that this kid was the Richie that Kai’d told him about earlier that Summer, though. Since she hadn’t given him a description at the Time, he hadn’t exactly been sure what to expect when he finally turned up in his Life. But seeing that they were of similar looks and builds aside from this kid’s eyes being a deeper shade of blue than his friends’ eyes certainly explained why she was so attracted to him.

“Well, kid, fair warning,” Rob chuckled as they finally moved over to the sunken family room.

“About what?” the youngest man queried, cocking a brow at him as he settled on the couch with the others.

“If ya start getting weird looks from my wife when she gets back, don’t take it personally,” he told him, unable to help a mischievous grin.

“Ya know, the two of ya _do_ look quite a bit alike, now that I think about it,” the taller blonde laughed.

“I’m not sure how ya get that,” Richie said, cutting a glance at him outta the corner of his eye.

“I think he means the long, wavy brown hair and up-turned tips of your noses,” Bret mused. “Similar builds when it comesta the rest of your bodies, too.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was talking about,” the bassist agreed. “And since she’s a hormonal woman right now–well, I put nothing beneath her.”

“Wait, what?” Even Rikki’s eyes widened. “Seriously, again?”

“So, I like getting my dick wet, even after all these Years,” Rob snickered. “Bite me, and I’ll take a hunk out when I bite back.”

“I take it that means she’s pregnant and capable of just about anything?” the youngest man chuckled, shaking his head.

“For the third Time, yeah,” he answered, unable to help a grin. “I blame hectic Life-induced desperation for that more than anything, though.”

“And howddaya get that?” Richie queried, cocking a brow at him.

The bassist snickered, but readily admitted that finding out his daughter was on the way was a surprise since they’d been about to embark on their first real tour. A lil over a Year after Avalon’s Birth in February of 1987, they’d conceived their son just as much by accident right before he’d to leave for their second major tour. Said boy wasn’t born till March of 1989, and just like when his daughter was born, he just barely made it back in Time for Aidan’s Birth.

From there, Rob made no bones about how they hadn’t exactly been trying to conceive again, ’cuz neither’d really wanted more than two kids. But other than the use of rubbers like they’d done all along, they hadn’t exactly done anything to _prevent_ another child, either. It was for that reason that–after fighting through the recording of another album and the start of a third tour–they’d found themselves expecting another child. All it’d taken was his wife bringing the kidsta see their show in Orlando back in March since they lived all of an hour from there and just enough Time to sneak off for a quickie, and he was in for quite the surprise not long after killing off that leg of their last tour.

Richie couldn’t help shaking his head, although he grinned and remarked that it was a good thing that his marriage was at least decent. Even though he admitted that he didn’t have any experience with extensive tours just yet, he was already a recording artist in his own right. With three solo albums already under his belt, he was no stranger to how hard it could be to keep relationships of any kind from suffering due to the Time that, alone took up. He could only imagine how that combined with tours almost as soon as he got an album out on shelves actually felt.

“Yeah, it’s definitely not fun sometimes,” the bassist agreed, nodding. “Especially not since Kai talked me into putting down the bottle Years ago, so I was pretty much the only one sober.”

“Wait, seriously?” Even Rikki looked surprised.

“Y’all idgits were always drunk, stoned, or both, so y’all didn’t notice,” he chuckled. “But yeah, she’d a bad feeling that me drinking even small amounts was gonna snowball into something far worse.”

“And considering how often she tendsta be right about the smallest shit…” Bret mused, a thoughtful look on his face.

“Exactly. How many Times’ve ya heard her say that she thought an amp was gonna blow mid-show, or that she’d a feeling Rikki was gonna fall off his riser in the middle of his solo or something, and turn out to be right?” Rob queried.

“Too many to say she’s wrong in most cases,” the drummer laughed.

“I rest my case, then,” he said with a laugh of his own. “When she told me I needed to put down the bottle, or I’d prolly be off to AA right about now or in the next few Years–yeah, I choseta put the damn thing down while I still could.”

“Looks like it worked out for ya, from what I can tell,” Richie told him.

“Prolly contributed to my becoming a father at the tender age of twenty-three, but hell–I’ve been with the same woman since I was twelve, married since I was nineteen!” the bassist laughed.

“He’s saying it was bound to happen sooner or later,” the vocalist chuckled when the youngest of the group’s jaw dropped.

“Hell, we’re surprised it didn’t happen sooner than it did,” Rikki agreed. “He’d already been with Kai for four Years when _we_ met him, and from what his brother’s told us–”

“Don’tcha even dare, Rockett, or I’ll give ya a reason to have to find a different stage name!” Rob warned him, pushing himself up when he heard something in the back hall where the kids’ bedrooms and their bathroom was.

“Ya all right, man?” the drummer asked, his brow furrowing.

Nodding, he headed toward said back hall making a quick check on Avalon and Aidan–who were playing in the latter’s bedroom–as his wife hung up her purse like most’d hang up their coats. He was quick to lean down for a kiss, which allowed him to give her fair warning about their unexpected guests. Seeing the way her eyes lit up when he said that he was pretty sure the Richie she’d told him about was here made him chuckle as he straightened.

In the family room, the bassist wasn’t surprised by how the guys’ eyes all widened when they saw her waddle in, although for different reasons. Bret and the drummer were always amazed by just how big she got when she was pregnant, which was a bit expected. Since she was nearly a foot shorter than him, she tended to start showing earlier, and showed more once she did.

On the other hand, while it was fairly obvious that the younger brunette was surprised by that, he was clearly attracted to her. Rob could tell that he was without having to ask as much as Kai could, and he considered that to bode well for the band’s Future. If he wound up being their newest guitarist and kept his attention focused on her, maybe the band wouldn’t be torn to shreds once again. Then again, maybe they’d _still_ wind up disbanding, what with the growth of the grunge movement outta the Pacific Northwest that seemed to be tearing everything elseta shreds.

“Well, well, well, Richie–look what the Cat dragged in,” the young woman chuckled, letting her husband pull her down between his legs.

“Wait, how–” he started, only to get cut off by another chuckle.

“I guess ya could say I’m something of a fan, so I already knew who ya are,” Kai laughed. “But what can I say? Even if I think a guy fell outta the top of the tallest Ugly Tree on the Planet and hit every branch on the way down, I’m attracted to damn good Music when I hear it.”

The younger brunette’s face flushed at the compliment she was obviously paying him like a schoolboy who was talking to his first crush.

“Wait, you’ve heard his work?” Bret queried, his eyes widening for a completely different reason.

“Let’s just say he makes _my_ idiot savant Self look like a blithering idiot, to keep it short and sweet,” she answered with a grin.

“You’re shitting me!” the taller blonde breathed, his own eyes widening.

“I’m kinda scared to ask what they mean,” Richie mused.

“I started calling myself an idiot savant the Day we met those two, ’cuz I can play just about anything I put my hands on,” the young woman explained. “I’m damn near the only reason Rob can play a bass worth a shit, I put Rikki to shame–regardless of whose kit we’re using–and I can sing Circles around Bret when I feel like it.”

“She’s right up there with our former guitarist on _that_ particular set of strings, too,” the vocalist agreed. He didn’t bother trying to deny what she’d said about him, ’cuz he knew she was right.

“And that’s not including piano, or having taught herself how to play a couple Wind instruments, too,” Rikki agreed.

“Sounds about like me, just with the Wind instruments swapped out for a Dobro,” he chuckled.

Kai grinned again as she said that for all that she could put the entirety of Poison to shame on their respective instruments, _he_ was the only one who’d ever put _her_ to shame. She wasn’t entirely sure that he wouldn’t leave her ten miles behind, if they were to sit down and jam together, so to speak. In fact, she was pretty sure that trying to keep up with him’d leave her so frustrated that she’d be Wishing she weren’t pregnant and had accessta a punching bag before it was all over.

The guys couldn’t help laughing, the drummer shooting Richie a grin of his own when he made no bones about this one being a bit on the temperamental side. He was quick to reassure him that she tried not to lose her temper without just cause, but she was definitely a _take-no-shit_ type of ass-kicker when they needed it the worst.

Looking back to the brunette couple, the youngest brunette couldn’t help the thoughtful look on his face. While he readily admitted that he hadn’t been entirely sure about auditioning for at least the blonde half of the band, he was certainly willing to give it a shot. If nothing else, maybe he’d make a handful of new friends that he could bounce ideas off of later on down the road and vice versa. That kinda thing couldn’t possibly be bad for any of them–not like getting into drugs and booze, let alone overdoing it with either of those things.

Over the course of the afternoon, they all got to know Richie a lil better than they’d managed before, if they’d met him previousta now. The young woman kept a sharp eye on him, even when she was tending to her existing kids, Silently observing even the smallest things about him. Giving her husband a quick look–during which they seemed to hold a Silent conversation–she was quick to make up her mind on something she’d been thinking about since that Summer. It wasn’t her plan to get the kid’s attention focused on her in a Romantic sense, _per sé_ –more like whether or not to give him a warning that most’d kill to have. That’d certainly open the door to her real plan, but she wasn’t about to do even that much without her husband being on board.

Before the visiting group could leave, Kai pulled him aside and said that she thought it a good idea for him to hang back for a couple more hours or so. Knowing the area as well as they did, she and Rob were both more than willing to give him a ride back to the hotel he and the blondes were staying in. Unfortunately, it’d prolly be the bassist who did since she tended to run low on Energy around seven or eight due to her pregnancy. She promised they weren’t gonna kill him–at least, not Intentionally–but she needed to have a word with him that was best _not_ said in front of said blondes. He was clearly nervous, but too curiousta deny her request, and she knew things were gonna get interesting.


	10. Nine

“So, what’d the two of ya wanna talk to me about that shouldn’t be said in front of Bret and Rikki?”

Later that Eve, after convincing said blondesta head on back to the hotel ’cuz he wanted to check out more of the area on his own, Richie sat in the Dalls’ family room with said couple. He was still nervous about doing such a thing, considering this was the first Time he’d met either of them, and he hadn’t known their friends for very long, either. Such a move was risky on his part in more ways than one, but he somehow got the feeling he could trust this couple–even if he _couldn’t_ trust the other two guys.

“I saw your expression when I mentioned how Kai’d told me I needed to quit drinking Years ago,” Rob chuckled.

“Well, something about how ya phrased it just doesn’t quite add up to me,” the youngest brunette admitted. “Like there’s something more to it, andja just weren’t saying it.”

“And you’d be right about that,” he agreed with a nod. “’Cuz Bret and Rikki’ve never been told the full Truth in the eleven Years we’ve known them.”

“Wait, what?” Richie’s brow furrowed in confusion, which made the lone woman chuckle as she absently rubbed her swollen belly.

“You’re prolly not gonna believe me, but I’m technically from the Future,” she said, unable to help a grin when his jaw dropped.

“You’re fuckin’ shitting me!” he veritably exploded, his jaw dropping. “There’s no fuckin’ way!”

Laughing so hard that she’d have pissed herself, if she hadn’t taken a potty break before settling on what was considered her side of the Love seat, Kai told him that she most certainly was not. A serious expression overtook her features as she said that she technically shouldn’t have been born for not quite another two Years. That’d make her all of two or three weeks shy of thirty Years younger than her husband, and she felt it was pretty obvious that they looked roughly the same age.

Rob chuckled as he admitted that it’d taken a few minutes for it to sink in when she’d told him, too, but he couldn’t deny what she told him. Her first piece of advice’d been to make sure he always wrapped it before he tapped it, so to speak, and not ’cuz she’d kill him for knocking her up when she didn’t want such a thing.

But she’d eventually told him that CC’d become their guitarist sometime in 1985, although she hadn’t known exactly when–and she’d turned out to be right. The young woman’d further told him that the vocalist’s hard partying was gonna cause him to fall out mid-show at Madison Square Garden in 1987–and she’d been proven right again. After that, she’d sworn that their original guitarist, as per their debut album, would last till sometime in 1991 before their hard-partying ways resulted in his firing after a fairly significant and ultimately disastrous show.

“I’ll be honest with ya, kid,” the bassist sighed. “I didn’t believe her at first, and I _still_ didn’t wanna believe her, even after everything she’d told me sank in.”

“But every Time I was proven right on something I swore was Destined to happen, based on what I knew from being from the Future–well, he’d no choice but to start believing me,” Kai chuckled.

“She swore all this was gonna happen when we first came out West in March of 1983,” he said.

“And as Time passed, every single one of those events happened,” Richie breathed, shocked almost shitless. “Maybe not at the same Time of Year as they happened in the version of history she knows, but at least in the same Years as when she said.”

“Which’s close enough, if ya ask me,” the young woman told him, nodding.

“When she told me this Summer when CC was gonna get booted–well, I almost thought I was gonna hit the deck, and not ’cuz my feet were killing me,” Rob admitted. “But when she told me about _you,_ and what was gonna happen after ya joined our Madness…”

“Wait, whaddaya mean?” the youngest brunette queried, now getting confused.

“This is another one of those things I know due to being from the Future,” Kai explained. “My choices’re keep my mouth shut and watch the same shit play out, or try to do something that’ll prevent it–and I think we all know which fork in the road I’m choosing, so to speak.”

“I guess it can’t get much weirder than this,” he mused. “Hell, might as well lay it on me, then.”

Nodding, she told him that this was what she meant by not trying to kill him Intentionally, ’cuz she’d readily admit that it could be heart attack-inducing shocking. Returning the nod, the youngest brunette watched her, clearly looking for any signs that she was lying as she took a deep breath to start recounting her tale.

The young woman told him that if he’d half as much sense as the Goddess’d given his dick, he’d keep that dick in his britches. If history went the way she knew it as of right now, he’d be thrown outta the band in just as sudden and shocking a manner as CC’d been. Such an event wouldn’t happen for roughly two Years, but it was gonna happen due to him getting tangled up with Rikki’s current _fiancé_. Hearing that made his jaw drop in utter shock, ’cuz he honestly couldn’t imagine himself doing such a thing to anyone, but he still listened carefully.

“Whether you’re an inherently good or bad guy, I wouldn’t wanna imagine ya actually doing such a thing,” Kai said.

“I’m kinda curious as to why not,” the youngest brunette admitted.

“’Cuz I’ve seen Deanna for myself–and lemme tell ya, ya couldn’t get me to fuck her with Tommy Lee’s dick,” she told him, not surprised her husband cracked up.

“That’s fuckin’ saying something, sweetheart!” Rob chortled, almost choking on the sip of his drink he’d been taking. “If there’s a rock star on the Planet who’ll stick their dick in just about anything–even a barnyard Animal–it’s _that_ drummer.”

“Hence why I worded it like that,” the young woman chuckled. “Well, that, and ’cuz I stole one of Nikki’s comments about Tommy’s Future ex-wife, Pamela Anderson.”

“Wait, what?” He was just as quick to sober up and turn a curiously surprised look on her as Richie was.

“Yeah, they’re gonna basically do this same thing Tommy’s parents did,” Kai told them. “Tie the knot less than a week after they meet, but that won’t happen for another four or five Years, if I recall correctly.”

“That’s seriously gonna happen?” Richie queried.

“As much as Vince’s either gonna quit or get fired in about three months,” she answered, nodding. “Depends on whose story ya believe. Vince swore right up to 2019 that he was fired, Nikki swore he quit, so it’s just a big game of rock ‘n’ roll _he said, he said,_ if ya ask me.”

“Somehow, I’m not surprised,” her husband mused. “I mean, Mötley’s known for their in-fighting, drinking, drugging, and partying as much as Poison is, sadly.”

“Who’re _you_ fuckin’ besides me?” the young woman laughed. “They’re even more notorious for it than y’all are, if only ’cuz they’ve five Years on y’all and take it ten Times further!”

“Yeah, fair enough,” Rob agreed, knowing she’d a very valid point.

Turning her attention back to their guest, she got their conversation back on track with a quickness since there was still more to cover. According to what she’d found out before her Time Travel, Richie swore up and down that Deanna was a single woman when he got involved with her. On the other hand, Rikki maintained that they were still together at the Time, which meant that she’d have been cheating on him–and with his band mate, no less.

Kai made no bones about how–regardless of which of those scenarios’d actually been true–it was gonna result in him being the second guitarist to be fired from Poison. But as far as she knew, it wasn’t gonna End in a fistfight between himself and another band member, although one’d think it would. From what she’d found out, Bret was gonna get pissed and throw his bags over the fence next to where their bus was parked at whatever tour stop they’d been on. To her Knowledge, he wasn’t even gonna try to fight it, ’cuz he’d his own reasons for wanting out at that point, regardless of his guilt.

Rob was just as enthralled as the young woman continued by saying that they weren’t gonna play enough of the material from the album they’d right with him for his liking. Again, according to what she’d found out, he wasn’t very fond of their older works, and lacking an Emotional connection made them even harder to bumble his way through.

However, he actually squawked indignantly when she told them that the younger brunette particularly hated _Ride the Wind,_ which happened to be his personal favorite to play live. Richie couldn’t help a laugh any more than she could at his reaction, although he readily admitted that based on the studio recordings he’d heard, he definitely wasn’t all that fond of that song. There might come a Time that he Changed his mind and decided that he liked it, but for the moment, he was actually closer to neutral. Besides, he clearly had bigger thingsta consider when it came to his Future, both personal _and_ professional. One misstep due to youthful, hormone-driven stupidity, and he was gonna have a lot more to consider that wasn’t nearly as good.

Nodding her agreement, Kai said that she ultimately couldn’t make certain choices for him, and she damn well knew that. When it was all said and done, it was gonna be up to him to make what he thought was the right decision for himself, as well as the band. He could always come to her for advice, just like the others could, ’cuz she was a far deeper thinker than she got credit for. Knowing certain things that no one else’d ever have a Hope in Hell of knowing might allow her to give him even better Insight to a certain situation. For the moment, she just wanted him to consider what she’d already told him carefully, and hoped that he still joined her husband’s band.

Just a month or so after meeting Richie for the first Time, Rob found himself having to beg the ultimate favor of that very young man. When the rest of the guys’d come out East again to hang out and have an early Christmas celebration, they’d known damn good and well there’d be another family member by the End of the Year. But since babies were known for coming anywhere from two weeks before to two weeks _after_ their due date, they knew that exactly when that new arrival’d–well, arrive was anyone’s guess.

The youngest brunette was asleep in the Dalls’ guest room on the Night that their baby decided they were ready to make their grand entrance. Just on the other side of the wall from the couple’s closet and part of their bathroom, he’d been dead to the World. It was feeling a hand clamp down on his bare shoulder and give him a gentle, yet urgent shake that jerked him from such Blissful Depths.

“Huh–da fuq’s going on?” Richie slurred, rubbing one eye as he reached over to turn on the bedside lamp.

“I needja to do me a favor, kid.”

He was all but wide awake as soon as he heard the oldest brunette’s voice next to the bed. “What’s up, man?”

“Kai’s water just broke,” Rob explained. “Too hard to take even one kid with me for this, so I definitely don’t wanna try it with two.”

“So, you’re wanting me to watch the kids?” the youngest brunette queried, unable to help a yawn.

“Once the Sun rises, anywhore, yeah,” he answered, nodding. “It’s only two in the Morn, so you’ve a while till they get up.”

“What Time’s that normally happen?” Richie asked.

“Around eight, maybe nine at the latest,” the oldest brunette answered. “Depends on whether they’re sick or not, and since they’re not at the moment…”

“Gotcha.” He yawned again as he reached over to set the alarm clock on the nightstand so he could get up at seven-thirty to play it safe. “Consider ’em watched, even if I’ma bumbling idiot when it comesta their exact needs.”

“Oh, I’ve a list taped to the fridge door that we usually don’t have to use unless we get a babysitter for date Night, so that oughta help ya out,” Rob chuckled.

Waving him off so he could get Kai the care she obviously needed, the youngest brunette told him not to worry. If the house was burnt down upon his Return, either they’d be waiting at a neighbor’s down the street, or he’d be dead alongside his older kids from trying to save them. The sleepy attempt at cracking a joke wasn’t lost on his new friend and band mate, who decided it was better to just leave things at that so he could get back to sleep.

But getting back to sleep so he’d be well-rested when the kids got up took till after he heard the couple leave for Richie. Part of him was worried about being entrusted with another man’s kids and home like this, considering that it was a helluva Responsibility. Another part of him considered it a perfect opportunity to prove himself as a man since he’d already proven himself as a musician.

Upon finally getting back to sleep while he’d the chance, he couldn’t help that his sleep was still a bit disturbed. He couldn’t help that–not for the first Time since meeting her–he found himself Dreaming of the young woman currently in the hospital. Something told him that Rob’d kill him for making any moves on his wife, especially now that he knew they’d been together for upwards of fifteen Years. But that was a misconception on his part, and he wouldn’t find out just how much so for a while yet.


	11. Ten

_January, 1992_

_Los Angeles, California_

A month after the Birth of his second son–who’d been named Zeppelin Harley Dall–Rob found himself in the one place he’d come to all but hate. Not only was he back within spitting distance of the Sunset Strip, but he’d to bring his older son with him, like it or not. He knew all too well that taking care of a newborn was hard work, and having an older child in the house made it even harder. The good thing was that his daughter’d proven to be more helpful with her second baby brother, rather than being a nuisance, so the decision on which child to bring with him’d been easy.

The guys were all thrilled to see Aidan again, all of them agreeing that they needed to take a Day to just chill out and hang with the lil man. If nothing else, it’d give the newly-arrived pair a chanceta adjust to the Time Change before they headed into the studio, which’d be a good thing. With any Luck, allowing the bassist that much’d prevent any short tempers right outta the starting gate.

On his second Morn in So Cal, he’d no idea how the hell he was able to drag himself outta bed around seven. Even though he’d woken with a serious need to piss, he just felt so exhausted that he’d been tempted to piss the bed, roll over, and go back to sleep. Unfortunately, there’d be no calling room service for clean bedding and to clean the mattress once he got up for the Day since he was staying on Richie’s couch. He knew it’d be in pretty bad taste to do that to the one guy in his band who’d been kind enough to let him crash at his place that he’d be able to stand for even a week, and with his young son, at that.

Said son let out an adorable yawn as he felt his daddy moving, his lil Chocolate eyes cracking open as he peeked up at him. Aidan was at that age where he and Kai were working on potty training him now, but it certainly proved to be a slow-going endeavor. He seemed to be as stubborn as both of them put together when it came to letting them know that he’d to go, but they were working on it. In the meantime, they were just thankful as all hell for Pull-Ups, both the Daytime and Nighttime versions. The boy’d a bad habit of wetting the bed without them, and they did enough laundry with actual clothes.

“Morn, guys.”

Glancing over to the doorway he’d just carried his son through after a shared potty break, Rob chuckled softly at their host’s bed-head. “Morn, kid.”

“Hope ya slept well enough on that thing,” he said, gesturing to the sofa bed he’d set up for them in his living room.

“Trust me when I say I’ve slept on worse,” the bassist laughed. “And this one’s too young to know the difference between sleeping on a rock and sleeping on a Cloud.”

“That so, huh?” Richie queried with a chuckle. “Chu dunno how it feelsta sleep in a nice, soft bed, huh?”

Aidan giggled sleepily as he let the younger brunette take him so his daddy could get a good stretch in.

“Hey, we just got him outta his crib and into a toddler bed when Zep was born,” he told him. “Judging by how they felt when I was putting those things together, the mattresses aren’t all that soft.”

“I guess kids’re just more resilient than I thought,” the young virtuoso mused.

“Must be, considering how he can all but smack his head and get right back up like it doesn’t even faze him,” Rob agreed, grinning as he ruffled his son’s hair and took him back.

“Unlike the two of us, where the slightest headache makes us wanna hide for a week,” he laughed.

“And those’re pretty easy to spark,” the bassist admitted. “I mean, just a single bad Night’s sleep’ll do it for me sometimes.”

“Same here,” Richie agreed with a nod. “Speaking of, don’t be surprised if I’m on the quiet and moody side at the studio today–didn’t sleep very well, so I’ve a bit of a migraine brewing.”

He cocked a brow as he made sure he’d already taken something for it, if only ’cuz he was supposed to be driving today. Confirming that he’d already taken his Excedrin and was just waiting for it to kick in, the younger brunette headed into the kitchen to get started on coffee. Taking just about anything with caffeine’d help it kick in quicker, but it’d definitely help that particular medication kick in quicker since it already had caffeine in it.

Once coffee was brewed and he’d set to work on breakfast for all three of them, Rob couldn’t help his Curiosity any longer. He made it clear that he didn’t have to answer, if he really didn’t wanna, but he wanted to know what’d sparked his near-sleepless Night. Maybe it was something he’d have to work through on his own, maybe it was something that talking about’d fix relatively quickly.

Biting his lip nervously, Richie debated the Wisdom of finally opening up to the man who was settled at his breakfast bar. His son was happily gnawing on the piece of toast he’d already given him, so he was well and thoroughly distracted. Then again, as young as the boy was, there wasn’t any guarantee that Aidan’d understand even the simplest of explanations. Even still, he wasn’t too sure he wanted to answer the question he’d just been asked, considering that that answer involved the older brunette’s wife–at least, to a certain extent.

“Well, I wasn’t gonna say anything to start with–figured it’d eventually stop on its own,” the younger brunette sighed as he started plating breakfast for them.

He simply kept quiet and let him open up at his own pace, which was actually one of his strong suits.

“Ever since I met her, I haven’t been able to get Kai outta my head,” Richie finally admitted. “I know better than to make any moves on her–she’s married to you, and you’ve made no bones about having been together for fifteen Years.”

“But yet, she just keeps turning up in your Dreams like some kinda phantom or Siren?” the older brunette chuckled, a knowing smirk curving his lips as he took the plate he was handed.

“Yeah, that’s an apt description of it,” he agreed with a nod.

“Newsflash for ya, kid–happensta me all the Time, especially when I’m on the road,” Rob told him.

The younger brunette wasn’t quite sure what to make of that, ’cuz he’d honestly expected him to get pissed that he was admitting to Dreaming about his wife.

“Ya see, whether those Dreams’re clean or dirty, it doesn’t matter to me,” he said. “What mattersta me’s that you’ve clearly got morals, or you’d have made a move on her already. That, and just Dreaming about her wouldn’t be eating ya alive and causing at least disturbed sleep, if not outright sleepless Nights.”

“I definitely can’t say I expected _this_ kinda reaction,” Richie mused, unable to help feeling a bit suspicious as he looked at him.

“Look, there’s no reason to get pissed over another guy looking at or Dreaming about my wife,” the older bassist laughed. “What I’d get pissed about is if ya started making moves on her and carrying on behind my back.”

He simply nodded, ’cuz he’d honestly feel the same way, if the roles were reversed, but he wasn’t expecting what came next.

Rob chuckled as he took another sip of his coffee, then took a breath to start explaining shit to him that most guys’d never think they’d have to. He told him about how he and his wife’d agreed early on that polyamory might be something they gave a try in the Future, particularly after Poison took off and started going places, literally and figuratively. They hadn’t done so as of yet, but then again, having one woman kept him busy enough when he wasn’t dealing with said band or helping with the kids–he didn’t wanna imagine adding a second woman to the mix.

At the same Time, kinda like with putting the bottle down Years ago before he found himself looking up from the bottom of it, he wasn’t sure that opening _that_ particular door was smart. That wasn’t to say that he didn’t have a steadfast heart and wouldn’t remain true to both his chosen women, or anything of the sort. He just didn’t wanna tempt himself into doing anything stupid behind both their backs, knowing full well that they’d both gang up on him to kick the shit outta him in the End.

Still, Richie couldn’t stop his eyes from widening to the size of the plates in front of them as he continued with his reason for not getting pissed at him. Not only did the older brunette appreciate his Honesty when he coulda hidden even that much from him, but he and Kai’d already talked about this kinda thing earlier that Summer. In all the Years they’d been together–both before and after tying the knot–she’d never once seemed attracted to any other guy. Sure, her hormones at the Time she’d met this young man prolly played a role in his appearing in her Dreams, but she’d never mentioned anyone else paying her such Midnight visits.

Not only that, but the young woman swore she’d held a Torch for him, even _before_ she’d suddenly Time Traveled four decades into the Past. When he thought about it like that, Rob was pretty sure that anything she felt for the younger brunette was as real and true as what she felt for himself. If it wasn’t, then she’d prolly fallen for some public persona that didn’t jive with his real, true personality.

“That being said, I’d rather share her with a guy who’s obviously fairly honest than have her going behind my back,” the older brunette chuckled.

“You’re kidding me,” Richie breathed, careful to watch his mouth due to Aidan’s presence.

“Well, Kai wouldn’t expect or ask anything of me that she’s unwilling to do, herself,” he told him. “So, why should I treat her any differently?”

“Fair enough,” the younger brunette readily agreed.

“Besides, me knowing you’re going after my wife’s completely different than the alternative scenario that she was telling us about,” Rob pointed out.

“Yeah, that’s definitely true,” he admitted. “I’m still not exactly sure whether it’d be cheating or not, but…”

“Well, as far as folks like the gov’ment’re concerned, she’d be having an extra-marital affair,” the older brunette explained. “After all, we’re not just handfasted, which’s a type of Pagan marriage–we’re legally married, too.”

Richie nodded to signify that he was still following along well enough, but didn’t say anything as he waited for him to continue.

“But we wouldn’t consider it cheating since I’d obviously know what y’all were up to,” he continued. “Well, with the exception of explicit detail about your sex Life with her.”

The younger brunette’s face heated up at the Thought, which made him laugh.

“Look, I’ve already told her that unless it’s a threesome between us, I don’t wanna know,” Rob told him. “If I was _meant_ to know, I’d have been involved in whatever shenanigans occurred.”

“Well, I can safely say _that_ won’t ever happen,” he chuckled, finally starting to relax a bit. “There’s absolutely _nothing_ appealing about having another guy involved in my sexual shenanigans, even if that guy happensta be the husband of the woman I’m with.”

Joining his laughter, the older bassist freely admitted that he felt the same way, so he didn’t find that mindset insulting in the slightest. To be quite honest, he doubted he’d even be able to get it up when he was at his most desperate, if they were to ever try having a threesome. He wasn’t as bad about such things as he used to be, but he was still a bit Self-conscious during such Times.

Nodding his agreement, Richie said that he still wasn’t gonna make any moves on his wife, regardless of him all but giving the okay for it. Being raised to be a bit of a skeptic, he couldn’t help but wanna talk to Kai and find out her opinion on the matter. For that matter, he’d prefer all three of them sit down and talk about giving such a thing a try, ’cuz it’d be easier to keep wires from getting crossed, so to speak. He didn’t say that it’d also give him a chance to catch them off-guard, if either of them was lying so he’d still have the Element of Surprise later.

Agreeing to that much, Rob told him that it was prolly better to table this particular conversation for the moment. They still had to get into the studio before either of the blondes started calling till they wanted to unplug his phone to Silence the incessant ringing. Besides, he was more than willing to pay for him to fly out to Florida with him so they could have this conversation in person. If they were gonna do that, there was no sense in further discussing it without his wife present like he was talking about.

For the rest of his Time out West, the older brunette didn’t hear another word about the conversation, but he could tell that it helped his newest band mate at least a lil. He didn’t seem to walk around looking even the slightest bit guilty about any Dreams he had that involved Kai, and he actually seemed to be sleeping better now. Maybe the lil bit of reassurance offered by him saying he didn’t care what he said or did, as long as he didn’t do anything behind his back was all he needed. But he knew that now, the trick’d be not letting Bret and Rikki in on any arrangements made between the trio of brunettes, ’cuz they didn’t need to know about their private business.


	12. Eleven

_March, 1992_

_Melbourne, Florida_

After a couple months spent more or less as a single father, Rob was glad to finally get a chanceta go back home for a break. He’d never deny that he loved his kidsta the Ends of the Earth and beyond, but this’d almost pushed him to his breaking point. There was no doubting that trying to be a recording artist while chasing after a toddler was hard work, but he’d proven that he could do it, if ever the need for such a thing arose again.

The thing that was different compared to when he’d come back home for breaks when recording _Flesh and Blood_ was that he’d Richie with him. After all, he’d insisted on talking to himself and his wife about giving polyamory a shot at the same Time. He didn’t blame him for feeling a bit skeptical about what he’d said–he’d have felt the same way, if it’d been him in those shoes.

Before they could even get the front door closed, a high-pitched squeal of _Daddy!_ rent the Air, and Avalon came barreling through the archway from the kitchen. Hot on her heels was his wife, who was clearly in the middle of nursing their younger son, judging by the looks of things. She rarely ever ran around in just her bra in front of the kids, but she’d opted to shed whatever shirt she’d been wearing when she’d opened one side of said nursing bra. It was certainly a distracting sight, but the older brunette didn’t let it distract him _too_ much, even though their conversation’d have to wait till later.

“Hey there, sweetheart,” he chuckled, leaning down for a kiss. “And no, Daddy hasn’t forgotten about my lil Princess.”

“Chu better not’ve!” the lil girl reprimanded him.

“Haow could I forget someone as beautiful as chu?” Rob laughed, swinging her up once he’d set Aidan on his feet.

She couldn’t help another squeal, but eagerly kissed his cheek once she was snuggled against his chest.

“Chu ’member Richie, don’tcha?” the older brunette queried, gesturing to his companion.

“Hihihihi!” Avalon waved excitedly, even though it was obvious that she wasn’t leaving her Daddy’s side till bedtime.

“A pleasure seeing _you_ again, too, ya lil cutie,” Richie chuckled. “Not to mention the lilest man of us all.”

“Yeah, he’s being a lil piglet right now,” Kai said, unable to help a chuckle of her own. “At least he recognizes Daddy’s voice, though.”

“That so?” Even Rob looked skeptically curious.

“Well, you’ve called home and gotten to talk to him enough!” she laughed. “As soon as he heard your voice now, he started squirming a bit and eased off on his suckling.”

“Only you’d know about the suckling part,” the older brunette told her.

Laughing again, Kai started herding kids into the family room, knowing that their older son likely needed a fresh Pull-Up. At least it gave him a chanceta take his own bagsta the master suite, which gave him the opportunity to remind Richie of where the guest room was. They hadn’t bothered converting it to a nursery as of yet for a couple different reasons, so it was still open for his use.

Upon entering the family room, he wound up pinned into his recliner by his daughter, who was eager to spend as much Time with him as she could. His wife and the younger brunette settled on the Love seat, the former pretty much between the two of them. Still, he knew that their discussion was best _not_ had in front of the kids, if only so they wouldn’t have as much to explain. It’d be better to explain everything later, assuming they even came to any kinda polyamorous arrangement between them in the first place.

But it seemed that the young woman’d something she wanted to talk about that may or may not bode well for any such arrangement. Since they’d already been considering finding a bigger house, she’d been working on that during her free Time between dealing with Avalon and Zep. Outta everything they decided they needed in a new home, at least six bedrooms–maybe more than that–and preferably an equal number of bathrooms was top priority.

The unfortunate thing was that none of the houses that fit those requirements fit their next top requirement–that it be closeta the Ocean. Kai’d searched everywhere from Fernandina Beach right at the Florida-Georgia line near the I-Ninety-Five corridor down to the Southernmost point of Florida at Key West. Everything that was big enough in terms of square footage was too far inland for their liking, and everything close enough to the Ocean wasn’t big enough to meet their growing family’s needs. That’d led to her taking her search outta State, just to see what she might possibly turn up, ’cuz it’d been mostly for Curiosity’s sake.

“So far, I’ve found two contenders that I think might work,” she told him.

“Dey’s purdy, Daddy!” Avalon piped up with a giggle.

“Oh, really?” Rob chuckled. “Well, let’s see what Mama’s turned up, ’cuz now I’m curious.”

Even the younger brunette proved to be curious as she spread out the real estate flyers she’d gotten copies of.

“They’re actually neighbors–looking on a map, ya all but cross the street to get from one to the other,” the young woman explained.

“So, which one’s closer to the Ocean–or does it really matter?” he queried.

“This one is,” Kai answered, pointing to the one with the address _6 Whistling Swan Road_ on it.

“They both seem like some of the mansions I’ve driven past in the Hollywood area,” Richie mused as they peered at the included pictures.

“Yeah, they’re definitely a lot higher-End than anything we’ve ever bothered looking at–even the apartment we moved into when we first got to So Cal,” the young woman agreed. “But they’ve a ton of bedrooms, which’s what we need more than anything.”

“How many’re we talking?” Rob asked, glancing up at her.

Pointing to the real estate listing for the house she said was slightly closer to the Ocean, she said that it was perported to have six beds and six baths. The thing that made her kinda lean more toward that one was that–as far as she was concerned–there pretty much _wasn’t_ a master suite. It seemed that all the bedrooms–even the bunk room–sported its own ensuite bathroom, so there’d be no fighting over who got which one of any of those rooms.

Kai then pointed out the floor plan on the final page, which allowed her to show him where the master suite technically was. On the first floor and separated from the living room by the wall that housed the fireplace flanked by built-in bookcases, it was a pretty decent size. It even sported its own private living area that could be a kinda mini-nursery till Zep was a lil older and could have his own room.

The next bedroom was on the first floor, but clean across the house from what was marked as the master suite. Just like all the other bedrooms, it was plenty big enough for a King-size bed and even a lil reading nook or something. Not only that, but it sported its own ensuite, which’d a walk-in shower plenty big enough for two, but no tub. And like all the others, the walk-in closet was big enough for at least three peoples’ worth of clothes, maybe more than that. It was perfect for either a single person, or even a couple, if they wound up not needing its Space and decided to rent it out.

Just up what she considered the first half of the stairs was the third suite, which the builder claimed was on the half-story since the house was technically a split-level. Big enough for a King-size bed, it technically already had a reading nook, considering the built-in bench under one of the windows. Under the other, whoever used it could put a desk to do homework at, or a couple arm chairs so they could make another reading nook. It’d a decently-sized bathroom with plenty of storage Space and a walk-in shower of its own that could work for either a single person or a couple. And its own walk-in closet seemed to be just as big as any of the others in this house–even the dual closets in the actual master suite across the house.

Upstairs on what the young woman considered the second story was a miniature living room that overlooked part of the foyer. Branching off one side of that living area was the next bedroom, which overlooked part of the side yard that was overlooked by the suite on the half-story. The other window overlooked the back yard, which included the pool, one of its poolside seating areas, and the pergola-covered outdoor dining area. Down a short hall from that same living area was the door to the bunk room, which’d two sets of built-in bunk beds. It also had what amounted to a lil play area, and its ensuite was just as spacious as all the others in the house.

“The last bedroom’s at the End of this hall, and from what I’m seeing in the pictures, it’s just as big as all the others,” Kai told them.

“It actually seems _bigger,_ considering it’s dual Queen-size beds in it,” the younger brunette mused, a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Yeah, it does,” her husband agreed with a nod.

“And the bathroom seems just as big as all the others, too,” Richie said.

“That’s really my only hang-up about this house,” the young woman admitted. “Other than the tub in the master suite downstairs, the only other one’s in the bunk room’s ensuite.”

“Which ain’t gonna work as well for even three kids, let alone if we keep adding to the brood,” the oldest brunette mused.

“I mean, it’d be great once the kids’re older,” she said. “But while they’re young and not as into taking showers as opposed to baths…”

“Yeah, fair enough, sweetheart,” Rob agreed. “So, what about this second one that’s literally within spitting distance?”

Like its neighbor, the second house was technically a split-level house, and Kai could actually see why it’d be labeled as such better. As soon as one walked through the front door, the foyer opened into an equally open-concept kitchen, living, and dining room to the left. Straight ahead was a back hall that led to the hall that housed the laundry room and led to the garage, as well as one of the full bathrooms. That wasn’t even including the back hall that housed the pantry, which was big enough for even a secondary fridge to fit in.

But one of the differences in this house was that it’d what she referred to as dual master suites–one on the first floor, the other on the second floor. The main master was pretty much her style through and through, although it didn’t have a more or less separate, but private living area. Even still, it was more than big enough for their King-size bed, plus Zep’s crib till he was old enough for his own room.

Going upstairs was where the craziness seemed to start, as far as the floor plan on the final page for this house went. As soon as one made it to the top of the stairs that could be seen from the foyer, there was a lil landing before one mounted a set of four steps. At the top of those was a second landing, which was flanked by two more sets of stairs consisting of a dozen steps apiece. If one went to the right, they’d go down into a hallway that sported its own lil built-in reading nook on the right side.

Across the hall from that lil reading nook was what the young woman considered the bunk room of this particular house. There were three beds all built into one piece of furniture, but they were certainly far more unique than the other house’s bunk room. Two of them were built like any other set of bunk beds and looked relatively normal, considering the small size of the room. But at the foot of them, the third bed was turned perpendicular so that its foot was right next to the bedroom door. Unfortunately, the room was so small that there wasn’t any room for a dresser or anything of the sort, nor did it even have a closet. What lil storage was offered by the ensuite bathroom–which’d a tub-shower combo–wasn’t enough for even a single child, let alone two or three. However, at the End of that same hall were two more bedrooms, which’d their own bathrooms and even closets.

If one were to take a left back at where all the stairs intersected, though, they’d find themselves in what was marked as the family room. The next suite was pretty much at the very top of the stairs, and Kai suspected that there was another bedroom that hadn’t been marked on the floor plan, considering how there were two doors that overlooked all the stairs. But immediately to the left of the stair landing, there was an office area that she was pretty sure was directly over the front door. Should he ever open that restaurant he’d been talking about, that’d be the perfect place for Rob to handle business affairs as long as the kids stayed downstairs.

The family room might as well’ve been considered part of a separate apartment, though, considering that–like the second story of the first house–it sported its own laundry facilities. Not only that, but it even sported its own dining area, as well as what she’d have to call a half-kitchen since it didn’t quite strike her as a wet bar. All they’d really have to do was rip out one of the lower cabinets and replace it with a stove, and it’d be a full kitchen, as far as she was concerned. In addition to that, there was a half-bath, as well as a separate sitting area directly over top of the downstairs living room.

Opening off the breakfast nook, as it’d been labeled in the floor plan, was what the young woman called the sub-master suite. Like the aforementioned breakfast nook, it opened onto the balcony that overlooked the pool, which took up half the back yard just like the first house. Its ensuite bathroom was perfectly suited to a couple, were they to ever rent out the second story of this house, which certainly made it appealing. Still, all it took was one look at his wife for Rob to figure out that she was thinking ahead for more than one reason. He could see in her eyes that not only was she thinking about the Future of their family, she was thinking ahead to the possibility of something forming between herself and the youngest brunette.

“Ya know, I can see why you’re torn between these two,” he admitted. “I mean, I wasn’t exactly looking to move outta Florida again, but I guess South Carolina’s not _that_ bad.”

“Wait, that’s where these houses are?” Richie asked, his eyes widening.

“On Hilton Head Island, yeah,” the young woman answered, nodding. “That’s as close as I could find to the kinda area Rob prefers without going _too_ far North since nothing in Florida was panning out.”

“I mean, they’re both great houses,” Rob said. “I could go with either one and be perfectly happy, if I’m honest.”

She knew what was coming without having to ask before he even looked up at her.

“I gotta ask–considering the arthritis ya were diagnosed with and seeing an elevator in that first house, which one would _you_ go with?” the oldest brunette queried.

“If I’m honest, I’m leaning toward that first house for that very reason,” Kai answered. “Like I said, though, the main drawback there’s that there’s only two tubs in the whole house.”

“Isn’t that something that could be Changed, though?” Richie queried.

“It could, but it’d be a lotta money,” she explained. “I mean, we’d have to rip out all the tile lining whatever shower we decided to convert, redo things like the waterproofing, possibly redo plumbing so the tub’d be functional, whether it was _just_ a tub or a tub-shower combo.”

“Sounds like ya really know your stuff,” the youngest brunette mused.

“I watch way too much Bob Vila for my own good,” Kai laughed. “I may not know how to actually build or restore a house any more than I know how to take apart and rebuild an amp, but I _do_ know enough to realize that certain things’ve to be done right the first Time.”

Neither of the guys could really argue with that, both quick to agree that it’d be better to do what was necessary right on the first try. If they were to fuck up due to inexperience or being too stubborn to hire a good contractor to do it, it’d be a much bigger hassle and cost a lost more. Not only that, but it’d add to the Ending price when they’d to repair damage caused by leaking pipes, if it wasn’t done right the first Time.

Rob said that they’d be better off to think over their options, especially if it meant uprooting their family and moving to another State again. Avalon’d been too young to really remember their cross-country move from California, and Aidan’d been born here in Florida like his baby brother. But he wanted thista be their final move till they were empty-nesters, so he wanted to be sure in their choice.

Easily agreeing to that, she didn’t bother trying to argue the point with him since she knew that was the wisest course of action. Handing off their younger son so he could burp him while she was cleaning up what she’d pulled out, she knew the Wisdom of their choice’d be even more important, if she actually got involved with Richie, too. That was what they’d talk about later, based on what she was picking up in her husband’s Energy, though, so there was no need to drive herself crazy over trying to make a decision just yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who happensta be curious, here's linksta the two top contenders in the Dall family's next house. I used the first one as the setting in my story, _More than Meets the Eye,_ but when it came up as having been sold, I started using the second link starting in _Twist of Fate._
> 
> Now that I've found links for both again, I've decided to use both in this story since they're a couple of my favorites. Hopefully, it gives a better idea of the visual I'm going for here!  
> ~Firefly
> 
> Link to First Contender–https://www.trulia.com/p/sc/hilton-head-island/6-whistling-swan-rd-hilton-head-island-sc-29928--2029192950
> 
> Link to Second Contender–https://www.trulia.com/p/sc/hilton-head-island/14-whistling-swan-rd-hilton-head-island-sc-29928--1145401460


	13. Twelve

Later that Eve, once all the kids’d been put to bed for the Night, the brunette couple took the younger man out back to the lanai. They were still close enough at hand that if the kids woke up for something, they’d be able to help them and get them put back to bed, but still had privacy. After all, they all felt that privacy was a must for this particular conversation, which was making the very Air around them a bit tense.

Settled at the edge of the pool so their legs could dangle in the Water, the trio merely enjoyed the Silence for a few minutes as they collected their Thoughts. Kai wasn’t the least bit shy about snuggling against her husband’s side, nor was she blind to the slightly jealous look that got shot at her from her other side. Being more Empathic than she oft liked to admit, she could feel the younger man’s Jealousy all but bleeding from his pores. It was almost like he was sweating in an Energetic sense, considering that while it was a balmy Night, it wasn’t particularly hot.

Finally turning their attention to him, it was Rob who said the first word since they’d walked out the back door. A chuckle colored his voice as he told him to just start with what he’d told him on his first full Day in So Cal, if he couldn’t think of a better starting point. They were both all ears at this point, and he wasn’t about to force his hand when it came to such a serious conversation.

“I guess I can start there–or maybe a bit before that,” Richie admitted, his tone screaming embarrassment.

“Hey, there’s no need to be embarrassed,” the young woman chuckled, surprising him when she reached over to give his hand a reassuring squeeze.

“I’m sure we’ve all been in worse positions,” her husband agreed. “Like some of the Times that my Stamina hasn’t been the best ’cuz of a tour, hint hint.”

“Or how ’bout when ya walked into the delivery rooms when Avalon and Aidan were born, my legs already up in the stirrups and wide open when ya did?” Kai suggested with a snicker.

“Oh, God–yeah, I think that latter one takes the cake,” the youngest brunette laughed, feeling a bit more at-ease. “I can’t imagine laying somewhere in that kinda position, and how bad I’d wanna snap my legs shut from hearing the door open outta nowhere.”

“Trust me, as much pain as I was in since I went _au Naturale_ both Times, I didn’t give a fuck at that point,” she said. “I was more concerned with getting that kicking Melon outta me so I could breathe and _not_ get my bladder stomped into mush anymore.”

Nodding since he couldn’t even Begin to trade War stories, as it were, Richie took a deep breath and finally dove into his tale. He started with admitting that he’d been attracted to her the second he’d clapped eyes on her, despite being all of a month away from her due date at the Time. Knowing she was already married hadn’t done a thing to stop that, but he’d kept himself on a leash pretty well, if he did say so, himself.

But around the Time that Zep was born, he’d started having almost Nightly Dreams involving her as the star actress, as it were. He couldn’t seem to get her outta his head for the Life of him, and it almost felt like he was being haunted in a way. Course, how realistic those Dreams’d seemed–as in, making him wonder if they were Dreams or if he’d actually been awake–made it worse.

Kai chuckled as she gently cut him off, a grin splitting her face as she inquired as to whether he knew anything about the metaphysical World or not. He wasn’t quite sure what she meant, as evidenced by how his brows furrowed when he looked over at her, but he was soon to find out. What she meant by that was that she’d a theory about what was really going on, but she was asking to find out where she should start her explanation. Depending on what he already knew, she may or may not have to explain the basics before she got into her actual theory.

“Well, I dunno whatcha even mean by _metaphysical,_ if that’s the case,” he admitted.

“It’s Pagan,” the young woman laughed, pulling a pendant outta her shirt that she didn’t show off in front of just anyone.

Richie’s eyes widened as he took in the encircled five-pointed Star that he’d always been told was a symbol of evil.

“I’m mostly Native American and Pacific Islander, so regardless of what Pantheon I follow, I go with my roots in more ways than one,” she explained. “Damn near every culture on the Planet was polytheistic at one point or another–doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about the Ancient Romans, Egyptians, Celts, Japanese, _Chinese,_ etc.”

“Okay, I guess that makes sense,” the youngest brunette said, nodding.

“Well, one of the things that technically falls under the umbrella term of metaphysics is the Astral Realm,” Kai explained. “Think of it like a Time-bending Dimension within Space where you’re having an Intentional outta-body experience that you’re in Control of.”

“Wait, seriously?” he asked, his brows now shooting up to his hairline.

“Well, in _most_ cases, you’d be in Control of it,” the young woman amended. “It takes practiceta gain conscious Control of Astral Projection–even I’m not that good at it.”

“Holy fuckin’ shit,” Richie breathed, those blue eyes as wide as dinner plates.

“Most often, it happensta me when I’m asleep and Dreaming,” she continued.

“Wait, say what?” The youngest brunette’s eyes somehow widened even more, which was downright comical.

“Lucid Dreaming–the Dreams that somehow seem more real than they should and like you’re in Control of–is actually a form of Astral Projection,” Kai laughed. “It’s just more along the lines of being unconscious, meaning ya don’t even realize you’re doing it when it’s happening.”

He took a few momentsta actually process that, which she was more than willing to allow him since he clearly didn’t know the first thing about Paganism. Once he looked up at her and gave a slow nod, the young woman knew he’d processed what she’d told him just enough for her to continue, which was what she’d been waiting for.

She explained that her theory as to why his recent Dreams about her’d seemed so real was ’cuz it was actually one of those cases of unconscious Astral Projection. The thing that woulda made it seem even more real was that _she_ mighta been doing the same thing at the same Time without realizing it. For that reason, they coulda very well been meeting on the Astral Plane without realizing that they were, which’d make their Dreams about each other feel even more real than they already had. It didn’t matter if those Dreams were clean, dirty, or a lil bit of both–that didn’t stop Astral Projection at all.

Kai couldn’t help a smirk at the realization that flashed in his eyes, which she’d utterly fallen in Love with before she’d ever met him. If she’d thought she might be onto something before, she really thought so now, considering the expression on his face. Still, they’d even more to discuss, now that they’d covered that part of what he wanted to say to both of them.

“Honestly, I thought those Dreams were gonna drive me nuts–literally,” Richie sighed, kicking his right foot slightly to stir up the Water it dangled in. “When Rob called me out on disturbed sleep causing a lotta migraines up till a couple months ago…”

“He didn’t really wanna answer me at first, and I could tell he didn’t,” the oldest brunette chuckled. “But I wasn’t gonna push, if he chose not to–I’d have just let it go.”

“I _wanted_ to tell someone, though,” he said. “I mean, I was embarrassed all to hell that the one I wound up telling happened to be the husband of the woman I’d been Dreaming about, but something told me I could actually open up to him.”

“Happens more often than ya realize with Empaths,” the young woman reassured him, gently squeezing his hand again. “We’re known for eliciting an innate level of Trust in others that they don’t tend to feel, even with their closest friends and family.”

“I’ll ask about that later before we get sidetracked,” Richie chuckled.

Nodding her agreement, she gestured for him to continue with her free hand.

“Lemme tell ya, I was more than a lil surprised when that conversation wound up including the topic of polyamory,” the youngest brunette admitted.

“Ah, so ya finally brought it up to him?” Kai queried with a chuckle as she turned to look at her husband.

“Yeah, I told him we’d talked about it a couple Times,” said husband answered, nodding. “Didn’t get into all of it, ’cuz we’d to get to the studio that Day, but I at least cracked open the door, so to speak.”

Rob grinned in responseta the confused look they were getting from the younger man, unable to help feeling a lil mischievous. He was quick to remind him of what he’d said about how he very well _coulda_ had a girlfriend on the side, but had chosen not to for his own reasons. Once he nodded, that was when he explained that those rules applied equally and fairly to his gorgeous wife.

As long as their Primary partner knew about such a relationship, it couldn’t really be considered cheating, as far as they were concerned. When he’d said that his wife wouldn’t expect or ask anything of him that she wouldn’t do herself, he hadn’t been kidding. But like he’d done, she’d chosen not to take another partner in addition to himself, just for different reasons. She was the kinda woman who wanted her partner to be in it for the long haul, whether that entailed marriage of _any_ kind or not, ’cuz she was most definitely in it for that.

Since she hadn’t found anyone else that she was attracted to at least equal to what she felt for her husband, she hadn’t truly considered the notion of polyamory. But she’d also hoped that things wouldn’t ring true to the variation of history that she knew, which woulda meant that she wouldn’t get a chanceta meet Richie. Given that her Time Travel _hadn’t_ altered that course and she’d gotten to meet him, Kai wouldn’t deny being equally attracted to him.

“I toldja, I’d rather willingly share my wife than find out she’s been fuckin’ around behind my back,” Rob reminded him with a chuckle.

“And I feel the same way about him,” the young woman agreed. “Hell, that’d go for any secondary partner I got involved with, too.”

“Are ya fuckin’ serious, or just pulling my leg?” he laughed, finally starting to get it a lil more.

“If I were pulling your leg, you’d know it, ’cuz it’d be your third leg,” Kai retorted, grinning as she playfully made a grab at his crotch.

“Hey, hey, hey!” The youngest brunette youngest brunette clamped his legs shut, even though he was still laughing. “Do that, and Rob might get a show!”

“Uh, no thanks, kid,” he chuckled. “I toldja, threesomes aren’t my thing, and I don’t wanna watch, either.”

“I never said you’d be watching _all_ of it,” Richie retorted with a grin of his own.

“I don’t even wanna watch ya making out with her, if y’all go that far,” the oldest brunette told him. “’Cuz even once I get used to actually sharing her, don’t think it won’t still make me jealous.”

“I wouldn’t expect any less, hon,” she admitted. “’Cuz you’d be Wishing it were _your_ turn, if nothing else.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much where the Jealousy’d come from,” he agreed.

Turning her attention back to the younger man, she brought up a point she doubted he’d realized just yet. “That being said, it’s up to you whether we even give it a shot.”

“I mean–well, it’s not something I’ve ever put any Thought into trying, let alone actually done,” he admitted. “But who knows if it’s something that’ll be for me, if I don’t?”

“That’s the Spirit,” the young woman chuckled. “Which brings me to another point I’m sure Rob’s figured out already, but I doubt you’ve even thought about.”

Richie cocked a brow curiously, surprised when she said that even he’d get a say in the purchase of their new house, if they actually gave this a shot. If they were gonna be Romantically involved, she wasn’t gonna expect him to move in with them–although that’d certainly make things a lot easier–nor was she gonna expect him to constantly fly cross-country. That didn’t mean he’d to be unhappy with any accommodations while he was out East for even a short visit, though. And if that kinda thing was gonna happen a lot, she thought it only fair for him to have his own bedroom–or rather, full suite, as per the floor plans of those two contender houses.

A quick glance at Rob earned him a nod of agreement, which only heightened his surprise since this definitely hadn’t been something he’d expected. The older man agreed that he should be just as happy and comfortable, especially if their Romance really budded and took off. He didn’t necessarily mean by adding to the family with her, but it was certainly a possibility, if their relationship went well. It was that kinda thing that could very well convince him to move back East, if only for his child’s sake.

When he thought about it like that, the youngest brunette realized that they’d a very valid point with what they were saying. Flying from one side of the country to the other all the Time was gonna get expensive with a quickness. Hotel bills’d pile up just as quick, and what he spent on hotel rooms could very well add up to a month’s rent on an apartment before he knew it. If they’d an extra suite that they were willing to let him call his own, that’d certainly solve those problems before they ever really _were_ a problem.

Finally issuing a nod of his own, Richie said that he wanted to think about everything they’d discussed before he decided one way or the other. He didn’t wanna lead Kai on, both ’cuz he wasn’t _that_ kinda guy and ’cuz he thought that might provoke her husband into kicking his ass. Not only that, but he didn’t wanna commit to this kinda thing without thinking it over any more than he’d have wanted to commit to Poison without thinking that one over. If he made the wrong decision here, it could affect the rest of his Life just as much as either deciding to join the band or not could. The difference was that a lot more Emotions–tender and otherwise–were gonna be involved, and it wouldn’t be just his own heart that was at stake.

Agreeing to that, the couple said that they were more than willing to let him take whatever Time he felt he needed to think it over. Impish grins crossed their faces as they made to stand up, both of them warning him that he might wanna stay outside for another hour or two. Considering that it’d been quite a while for them, they wanted a bit of a wild Night together, but didn’t wanna scar him or anything.

Sighing as he watched Rob carry his wife back into the house, the youngest brunette couldn’t help a slight surge of Jealousy, but he pushed that aside so he could think about the offer he’d been made.


	14. Thirteen

By the Time the second Summer Sabbat of _Lughnasadh_ –which was the first of three harvest festivals, according to Kai–rolled around, several Changes’d been made. Not only had she started dating Richie as long as he wasn’t trapped in a recording studio out West, but the family’d finally decided on a new house for themselves. Just as they’d promised, they’d gotten even the opinion of the aforementioned younger boyfriend before making the final decision.

Since his wife’d already had a clear preference between the top two contenders, Rob’d taken the real estate listings back to California with him to go over in his spare Time. Even though the pair of houses seemed pretty similar at first, their differences quickly became obvious once he got that chance. It was those differences that ultimately sealed the deal, and the younger brunette was quick to agree.

The first house was listed as being a lil over forty-six hundred square feet, while the second house clocked in at a lil over fifty-eight hundred square feet. From what the older brunette could tell, that was basically from lacking the extra three bathrooms that second house was said to have, or something of comparable size. But in lacking that extra twelve hundred square feet or so, the first house wound up not being nearly as expensive as the second. In being several million dollars cheaper, it was more agreeable to the bassist’s checkbook since he was the one putting down all the money on it. That wasn’t to say that Richie wasn’t gonna do what he could, but he didn’t have nearly as much money to put on the initial purchase, taxes and maintenance later on, and those sorta things.

In the midst of the Insanity that was packing up their Florida house so it could be put on the market, the trio somehow managed to hide the Romantic shake-up from Bret and Rikki. Kai never once acted like she was involved with their new guitarist in addition to her husband when those two were around, and neither of the older kids slipped up, either. They felt those two didn’t need to know yet, if ever, but hiding it while in such close quarters certainly wasn’t easy. Knowing that her younger boyfriend felt a bit _neglected_ late at Night didn’t make hiding it during their move any easier.

Upon finally getting all their belongings hauled up to the new house in South Carolina, she’d barely waited for said blondesta leave before dragging him off to his suite to break it in, so to speak. Her husband didn’t even bat an eyelash, let alone turn to glance over his shoulder, when he heard a muffled noise of surprise behind him. Those two running off for a good romp while he was spending Time with his kids was inevitable, and he felt no need to question it. If there was anything he was thankful for as they did, it was that Richie’d picked the suite on the half-story so he’d have extra Space for his gear, so they were clean across the house from the living room.

“Good God, woman,” said younger man groaned as he pushed her up against his bedroom door once it was closed. “We’ve been together since April, but I feel like I haven’t seen ya in _Years.”_

“Trust me, I feel the same way,” Kai agreed, unable to help a whimper as he leaned down to nuzzle and nip at her throat.

“Time to loose this, damn it,” he growled, unable to help a smirk as he straightened and pulled her T-shirt off. “Not that I’ma make the mistake of saying such a thing again, but I agree with Rob’s assessment thatcha look better in nothing at all.”

“As if I’ma disagree with that,” the young woman laughed, grinning as she grabbed the front of his own shirt. “But you’ve to do the same.”

Richie laughed as she quite literally ripped the front of it open, sending its buttons flying. “Good thing I wasn’t very attached to this shirt, huh?”

“You’d get over it, even if ya were,” she told him. “’Cuz what you’re about to get is way better than a favorite shirt.”

“That so, huh?” the younger man queried, his smirk morphing into a grin of his own. “Gonna make it worth my while, huh?”

“Oh, more than ya know,” Kai promised, her hands drifting down to his waistband. “And lemme tell ya, if it’s not–well, I’ll let Rob beat my ass like the bad girl I am at heart.”

He couldn’t help a laugh as she expertly unbuttoned his fly, then all but yanked his zipper down to his feet in her excitement. But the Freedom his already-raging boner found from that action more than offset how rough she was, considering that she hadn’t made the mistake of hitting the rest of his ’nads. In fact, not feeling like his cock was being strangled just allowed it to grow even more, which she seemed thoroughly enthralled by.

Richie wasted no more Time in getting her own jeans off, leaving them both in nothing but their skivvies as he leaned down for a kiss. He couldn’t help a chuckle as he used that as his opportunity to sweep her into his arms, which allowed him to carry her across the room. Their flesh was already sticking together slightly, even though they hadn’t quite worked up a sweat, and he loved the sensation.

Dropping her on his bed, the younger man was glad that he’d chosen to wedge it right in front of where the wall dropped back for the windows. He wasn’t too keen on Rob knowing what they were up to ’cuz he could hear his bed thumping against the wall, which was why he’d chosen not to put it next to the door. At least by having that foot-deep inset that he couldn’t use, if he wanted nightstands on either side prevented that from being a problem before it ever was one. They could go at it as rough as they wanted, and as long as he and Kai weren’t turned sideways on his bed, he was pretty sure it’d never have a chanceta slam into the wall while they were going at it.

The young woman shot him what could only be called an Impish grin as he joined her on the bed, taking him by surprise with her next move. Once she knew she’d him off-guard, she grabbed him by the biceps, wrapped one leg around his waist, and flung her weight sideways. She wasn’t a particularly strong woman when it came to lifting a decent amount of weight, but she also wasn’t exactly weak, either. Besides, she liked using the Element of Surpriseta her advantage, which was what allowed her to throw her husband–and now her boyfriend–onto his back like he was a hundred pounds lighter.

“Well, damn, girl,” Richie chuckled, slightly breathless from landing on his back combined with her weight coming down atop him. “Can’t say I expected that.”

“I’m full of surprises,” she said, a sultry purr in her voice that sent blood to pull in his already-engorged crotch.

“I can see that,” the younger man said, groaning when she ground down against said crotch. “Jesus, you’re gonna be the Death of me, if ya keep doing that.”

“At least you’ll die with a smile on your face,” Kai retorted, grinning down at him.

“Here’s hoping, ’cuz I damn sure wouldn’t wanna die any other way,” he told her. “Especially not during sex.”

“Yeah, dying with anything less than a smile on your face or the best orgasm face I’ve ever seen’d be a sin,” the young woman snickered. “Then again, if you’re anything like me, you’re gonna sin like ya mean it.”

Richie couldn’t help bursting into laughter at that statement, although he managed to catch his breath enough to assure her that he didn’t do things anything short of that. He was one of those who oft liked to push thingsta the absolute limit, and when he choseta unleash that side of his personality, he did so like he meant it and then some. Nothing was too much for him to handle, as far as he was concerned, and stating that earned him one of the most devious looks he’d ever gotten from anyone.

Before he knew it, Kai’d riled him up into such a state that he thought he was gonna blow his load far too soon like he was thirteen again. Snickering as he got right to the edge, she grabbed his sac in a grip that was tight enough to achieve her goal, but loose enough to avoid hurting him. Even still, he all but squealed like a Pig when he was suddenly denied just as he got to the edge of that figurative Cliff.

Panting as he took a few momentsta gather his wits, the young man figured out what she’d just done to him, and he wasn’t exactly happy about it. He’d already been so hard that it was actually a lil painful, and that sudden denial just made his cock hurt even worse. That was the only reason he growled as he used his weight to toss her across his bed again, the look in his eyes downright predatory as he turned the tables on her. Now, he was more determined than ever to get her riled up to the same point, then take them both over the edge of that precipice.

While he couldn’t say that he’d as much experience as the older man did–not by a long shot since it wasn’t like he’d been with the same woman for nearly twenty Years now–Richie certainly wasn’t a hype in the bedroom, either. He’d enough experience and Knowledge on how to pleasure a woman that it didn’t take him long to have the one currently in his bed screaming in pleasure. That just made him grin as he tormented her to a point that he was pretty sure equaled the torment she’d dished out to him. If it wasn’t quite equal, that was simply ’cuz he’d gotten her off four Times just from using his tongue and fingers, whereas _he_ hadn’t been allowed to cum at all. Luckily, that just meant that he wouldn’t have to worry about cumming too soon now, ’cuz she’d be more sensitive than normal.

Kai was all but begging him to stop by the Time he finally let her have a breather so he could reach over to the nightstand he actually used. She was so sensitive that she’d damn near say just feeling his hair brush over her nipples’d get her off once again. But he didn’t wanna wait _too_ long, knowing that her sensitivity wouldn’t remain that high forever, if he did. Not only that, but he desperately needed to get his own rocks off before something unsavory–which he didn’t even wanna think about–happened. For that reason, he kept himself riled up just enough to avoid losing his chance without cumming too soon before finally ripping open the lil foil packet he’d grabbed.

“I know you’re not a virgin anymore, but lemme know, if ya need a minute,” the young man said, now kneeling between his girlfriend’s spread thighs.

“TMI or no, you’re about the same size as Rob,” she laughed, still sounding a bit breathless and definitely more than a lil hoarse. “I doubt it’ll hurt at all, even though I’ll admit that it’s been a while.”

“Yeah, definitely TMI,” Richie agreed with a laugh of his own. “And whyddaya say that?”

“’Cuz I’m not stupid,” the young woman told him, grinning. “I made sure my toy’s roughly the same size as Rob for when he’s on tour or the like.”

He couldn’t help another laugh as he got what she was hinting at. “Well, between that and me making sure ya were prepped…”

“My point exactly,” Kai agreed. “Now, give it to me before I’ve to throw ya off the bed to get it.”

“As MiLady Wishes,” the young man chuckled, moving closer so he could line himself up.

“Ah, Goddess,” she moaned, arching up to meet him as he sank into her warm, moist depths.

“Fuckin’-A, you’re tighter than I thoughtcha were gonna be, all things considered,” Richie groaned as he bottomed out.

“I should hope that ain’t a bad thing,” the young woman chuckled, her muscles spasming around him when she did.

“Fuck, no,” he told her. “Just quit laughing before ya make this Volcano blow too soon.”

“Poor baby,” Kai crooned, her tone mocking, but teasing. “I’m ready whenever _you_ are, so gimme whatcha got.”

Making sure his weight was braced properly once he was sure he’d himself under Control again, the young man growled as he pulled back till just his tip was still lodged within her. She seemed more than pleased by that action, even though she whimpered and wrapped her legs around his waist as if to pull him closer. But she knew that was just the Beginning of something awesome as she used one hand to pull his head down, her fingers gently tangling in his hair.

Ever quick to adapt to a situation, he lowered his weight a bit more so he could actually give her that kiss without hurting her. Not only did he _not_ wanna crush her and cut off her Air supply, he knew that her breasts were incredibly tender right now. Both the young woman and her husband said that it was from nursing, but he still didn’t wanna cause her unnecessary pain.

Richie made sure to pay attention to even her nonverbal hints about what she wanted, knowing that some women were more vocal than others. He could tell from the way her limbs tightened their grip on him if he was doing something right, or he needed to make a slight Change. A good example of that was when he tried to push her legs open a bit further to give himself more room, which only resulted in her tightening her grip on his waist till he couldn’t breathe. On the other hand, angling his inward thrusts slightly upward got her to dig her nails into his back as if to spur him on, which told him that he’d found and hit her G-spot.

It didn’t take long for Kai’s breathing to start hitching every couple breaths, her eyes glazed over almost like she’d just woken up. That combined with how she’d clamped down on him so that he felt like he’d stuck his cock in a vice was a pretty dead giveaway that she was close. For that reason, the young man managed to wedge a hand between them without hurting either of them, his thumb making a beeline for her clit. Luckily for him, barely any pressure and rubbing a couple Circles was all it took to set her off, as close as she’d apparently been.

The shriek he just barely managed to muffle with a kiss and how she stiffened beneath him told him everything he needed to know. But the sensation of her powerful orgasm also served to set him off, eliciting a gasp from him as he bucked into her. He couldn’t help a pleasured groan, his own eyes rolling back in his head like hers’d done and his hips bucking slightly as he rode out the pleasure. What he wasn’t used to was how that pleasure seemed to go on forever before it finally Ended, which made a fleeting Thought cross his mind. Rubbers weren’t supposed to be able to handle more than a certain amount of cum without rupturing, and he worried that he was about to see that become a Reality. Feeling his girlfriend shiver and spasm around him with an aftershock quickly sent that Thought out the window, though.

Barely able to hold himself up now, Richie took just enough Time to let his breathing settle a bit before gently pulling away from his girlfriend. She mewled and shivered again, setting off an aftershock for both of them as he pulled out, which made him realize just how good of an orgasm he’d had. Normally, he didn’t have to hold a rubber on when he pulled out to avoid losing it, but he damn sure had to this Time. He chalked that up to how long it’d been since he’d a lover, though, which made him shrug as he turned to remove that thin piece of latex and throw it away. At least it’d done its job, rather than exploding from the amount he’d wound up pumping into it, even though he doubted the young woman’d conceive again less than a Year after her last delivery.

_“Shhhh,_ love–I’m not going anywhere,” he promised, sliding back into bed next to her when she whimpered again.

“No leaz meh,” Kai mumbled, her words almost inaudible from burying her face against him.

“I’m not gonna unless Rob asks me to do something,” the young man swore, gladly wrapping his arms around her.

_KNOCK KNOCK!_

“Better hope you’re good with what lil you’re gonna see!” Richie called in responseta the knock that’d sounded on his bedroom door.

“Just making sure y’all’re still alive in here,” the older man chuckled, cracking said door open enough to be heard clearly. “That, and making sure she gets told that Zep’s almost outta bottles, so she’s gonna have to pump soon, if she doesn’t just nurse him.”

“I’ll make sure she’s told,” he promised, nodding as he dared peek around the door. “Well, once she gets more of her wits back, that is.”

Rob’s eyes widened when his wife peeked up at him, ’cuz he recognized her mental state exactly for what it was. “Oh, boy–kid, we’re gonna be having a chat once she’s asleep.”

“Wait, what?” The young man was confused, and not just from waiting for his own high to wear off.

“It’s not necessarily anything bad,” the older man told him. “Just something ya need to be walked through by someone who’s been through it with her before.”

Richie still wasn’t quite sure what to make of that, but he couldn’t really think of a way to respond.

“Like I said, we’ll talk about it later,” he reassured him with a chuckle. “Let her fall asleep and get your own head on a lil straighter, though.”

Nodding, the younger man supposed he didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter and chose not to argue the point. He figured that Rob’d a good reason for putting off whatever discussion it was that he wanted to have. Besides, he could use a bit longer to get his head on straight enough to listen and actually comprehend what he was saying. The thing that mattered to him was that he kept his word–unless he simply forgot due to getting distracted by the kids, which he didn’t think would happen, as serious as his expression’d looked.

Heaving a soft sigh as he settled down to possible catch a nap, he couldn’t help the goofy smile on his face as he kept Kai snuggled close. This was the first Time he’d been forced into forming an Emotional bond with his choice partner before anything sexual came up. But if he were completely honest, it was one of the best feelings he’d ever experienced, and he hoped there was more to come for them.


End file.
